


You & Me

by EvilRegalBre



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/F, Romance, Swan-Mills Family, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-25
Updated: 2017-07-17
Packaged: 2018-02-18 18:26:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 49,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2357813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EvilRegalBre/pseuds/EvilRegalBre
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was never supposed to be like this. They weren't supposed to have to live without her...  (This entire story was recently revised to correct grammar and plot errors! Enjoy!)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. You+Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Revised 7/6/2017. Only minor edits made. -Bre

_This story is inspired by the song You and Me by P!nk & Dallas Green_

_I hope you enjoy it. Warning, it’s very angsty._

 

* * *

Emma stood there, unable to breathe, unable to move. She heard someone shouting her name, she felt someone’s arms envelope her. But she was numb, she couldn’t feel her limbs, she couldn’t feel anything but the pain in her chest. It was as if she had been the one struck, as if she was the one who lay at an odd angle in the dirt. It should have been her, she would give anything for it to be her instead. The figure on the ice-cold ground was lifeless, unmoving. Emma couldn’t even bring herself to cry, because she felt nothing; nothing but the burning, stabbing pain where her heart used to be.

 

The barn was filled with noise, but she heard none of it. Someone was pulling her away, but as they pulled her off her feet, she crumbled. She knelt there, the freezing muck beneath her jeans, seeping into the denim, but even that was nothing compared to the numbness she felt enveloping her being. She was so cold, numb, and lost. Reaching out a hand she finally touched the lifeless figure laying there before her. How had everything gone so wrong? They had planned it all so meticulously. Nothing like this was supposed to happen. Good was always supposed to win, right? Isn’t that what her parents were always preaching, to have hope, hope would lead them through the darkness. And no one had more hope that her in that moment. This was all a dream, she would wake up in a moment and everything would be fine.

 

“Emma, we need to go, we can’t stay here.” A voice beside her finally rang through the fog in her brain. Stunned she looked up into the face of her mother, Snow White, or Mary Margaret as she’s known in this world. The epitome of good always wins, the voice of every Hope filled speech, was telling her she had to walk away right now. Could she not see that her daughter was broken? That something inside her was now in a million tiny painful pieces.

 

“The ambulance is here, they’re going to take care of everything,” Mary Margaret whispered, finally seeing the anguish in her daughter’s eyes. “Robin is going to ride with her…” Emma jerked her head suddenly, blonde hair whipping her mother in the face. She found Robin Hood standing across the room, talking to a paramedic. He was trying to relay what had happened. Emma just stared at him, how was he not with her now. How was he not holding her hand, how was he still functioning. He was her Soul Mate, he should be the most broken of all people. Something about this was all wrong. The darkness in Emma was swelling; she was getting angry; angry that he was acting fine, as if everything was alright. As if his True Love wasn’t laying on the dirty ground in a barn, dying…

 

When the paramedics finally came over to load Regina onto the stretcher, Emma reached out to grabbed Regina’s hand, a gargled sound coming from her mouth. She couldn’t even speak, speaking hurt too much. She followed the stretcher to the doors of the ambulance, where they began loading the stretcher. Robin moved to jump into the truck after the paramedic; Emma moved to stop him, to take his place. She withdrew her self suddenly, what was she thinking? Robin caught her movement right before the driver closed the doors, the look on his face was confusion, he didn’t understand…

 

“Emma, honey, you’re freezing,” She heard her father say as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. She didn’t respond, she just stood there and rested her head on his shoulder, taking a little comfort in having someone to comfort her for once in her life. “Zelena is powerless now, defeated; I’m taking her to the station, would you like to come?”

 

Emma nodded, as she still couldn’t bring her vocal cords to work properly.

 

* * *

 

 

Mary Margaret had left in a different vehicle, riding with Killian back to her apartment; her baby was fast asleep in his seat in the back of the car. “I can’t believe this happened, all the times I wished ill of her, I never really wanted her dead.”

 

“I doubt _her Majesty_ can be defeated so easily, mate,” Hook replied, not even sure why he was in the car with Emma’s mother. He supposed they were all still on edge, and they hadn’t wanted Snow to go home alone. David as acting Sheriff had needed to take Zelena to the station to lock her up. But he still wished he hadn’t been left on babysitting duties. He should be with Emma. He needed to be there when she told Henry what had happened, Emma needed him…

 

It wasn’t sitting right with him though; the way Emma had behaved after Regina fell. The look on her face, he’d never seen that look before. Even in Neverland when she’d spoken of her time in the system, spoken of losing all hope; even when she’d spoken of Neal breaking her heart in that cave; he’d never seen her look more broken than when Regina hit the ground.

 

* * *

 

 

The night replayed in Emma’s mind as she sat in the passenger seat of the patrol car, on the way to the station. They’d stormed the barn; they’d been the white knights, on a mission to save her little brother. Zelena had stolen him from Snow’s arms when he was only minutes old. They had been quite the spectacle, all armed, ready to take on the Wicked Witch. They had exactly what they needed to destroy her, they knew her secret. They knew where to hit her to destroy her forever. Her pendant held all her power, they’d only needed to stop her long enough to snatch it from her throat. It had all been going according to plan. Regina had stridden forward, confronting her sister, it had been magnificent to see Regina transform. The white light had sprung from Regina like beacons from her fingertips. The light magic had struck Zelena, throwing her back and breaking the time circle. The pure, good in Regina had been so beautiful. Emma had known it was in her the entire time; it was so amazing to finally have Regina realize it for herself though. Zelena had crumbled under the force of the magic; crippled by its force. Good always wins… At least that was supposed to be how it worked. Something they hadn’t counted on though, was a counter spell. When Regina grabbed the pendent from Zelena’s throat, a counter spell had come with it, knocking Regina across the room, she’d hit a beam in the barn, a large crack sounding through the room, before her body had tumbled to the frozen floor. Zelena had cackled, blood seeping from Regina’s head to the floor, a river forming in the design Zelena had scratched into the barn floor. Regina hadn’t moved after that…

 

The pain in Emma’s chest hadn’t lessened, and as she replayed the events in her head it became nearly debilitating. The pain was moving up into her throat, she felt like she was choking. David at the wheel looked over, concern furrowing his brow, “Emma, are you okay?”

 

All she could manage was to shake her head. “Pull over.” She choked out. She wasn’t sure how it came out; it had to have sounded more like garbles than actual words. David slowed to a stop, and before he could even put the break on, Emma was out of the car. The crisp winter air in Maine was perfect; it filled her lungs like shards of glass. She tried to breathe deeply, but it only came in gasps. She heard another car door open behind her, David approached behind her, “Emma, are you hurt?” Worried that they had somehow missed Emma getting injured, he moved closer. Reaching out to grab his daughters shoulder.

 

Emma shook his hand off; she couldn’t bear to have someone touch her right now. Looking behind her, she caught Zelena’s eyes from inside the back seat of the patrol car. A smirk was pasted on her psychotic lips. It was like she could see into Emma’s soul, could see how completely torn apart she was. Emma was feeling things that she shouldn’t be feeling. Emma was acting like her heart was broken, and it was, she just wasn’t ready to admit to herself just how broken it was…and why.

 

“I’m just going to take a walk, I’ll meet you at Granny’s.” Emma finally responded to her father. The look on his face looked like he wanted to object. But if her parents had learned anything since getting their memories back, it was that they shouldn’t push Emma. They were all still afraid she’d bolt and never come back. Because that’s what Emma did when she felt threatened or pained, she ran away. Giving her one last worried glance, he just nodded and got back into his car.

 

The patrol car pulled away slowly, as if waiting for Emma to change her mind. But she just stood there, hands in her jacket pocket, and watched it disappear up the street. In the light of the streetlamp that illuminated the corner she stood on, all she could see was her own breath. It was there in the frigid night air that she finally cried. Warm salty tears streamed down her face as she looked up into the sky. She couldn’t understand why it had taken her so long to realize what had been in front of her face the entire time. It didn’t seem fair that the stars could still be shining, when the greatest light in the world was fading out.

 

“How will I tell Henry,” She sobbed to herself in the dark. She couldn’t feel her face anymore, her tears turning to sheets of ice on her face. She couldn’t bring herself to care though. Henry was going to be devastated. He had only just got Regina back, and now Emma was going to have to tell him that they were losing her again.

 

Losing her all over again… Only this time they’d remember everything. The worst part of all was that, this time, there was no curse to break. It wasn’t magic that was taking her from them, it was life.

 

“I was supposed to bring back the Happy Endings…” Emma cried out, shouting into the night, “There is **no** happy ending now.”

 

Emma’s knees buckled, and she found herself sitting in a snow bank, “There is no happy ending without her.”

 

* * *

 

 

It was there in the snow, covered in frost, rose colored cheeks and red rimmed eyes that Killian found her. “Oh love,” He whispered as he pulled her up into his arms. His body pressed against hers, his hook catching on her jacket as it bit into her back. She stood there stiff, even as he tried to comfort her. When she pushed him away it felt like he’d been hit by a wave in a storm. “Not now, Hook.” She grumbled. The look in her eyes said to stay away, but Hook was never very good at reading Emma’s signs. He reached for her hand, trying to tug her in the direction of Granny’s diner and warmth. “It’s too cold out here, come on, I’ll have Granny make you a cup of cocoa.”

 

“You don’t get it,” She stepped back, her voice low, “I don’t want you, I don’t want you to comfort me right now.”

 

Stunned Killian stood there, lost for words, he stuttered, “Emma, love, I…I… I don’t understand.”

 

“It was never you, it’s never been you, I can’t love you, Killian.” Emma breathed, her words falling like stones to the pavement. “But our kiss, Emma, I know that meant something to you…” His voice was matter of fact, he was so certain.

 

“I wish I could say it had,” Her eyes were pained as she stood there and broke his heart. A part of her took joy in it, as she wouldn’t be the only one hurting. But she didn’t revel in that long, she didn’t like causing anyone pain. And she wasn’t entirely sure it had been fair for her to break his so soon. She just couldn’t pretend anymore, she couldn’t go on pretending that she cared for someone when she didn’t.

 

“It’s Regina isn’t it…” He stated grimly.

 

“It’s always been her,” Emma finally admitted to herself. Gasping, she clutched her chest, gazing into the darkness, she smiled a sad smile. “I just regret it took me so long to realize it, and now it’s too late.”

 

Hook had no more words for Emma, he was hurt and shocked. A part of him had always suspected, but he had never imagined he would hear the words himself, and from Emma’s own lips no less. The wound in his heart was deep, he had finally opened himself up to love again, after loving only Milah for so long…and he’d gone and fallen in love with someone who didn’t want him.

 

He couldn’t stand there anymore, he couldn’t stand there and watch her fall apart over someone else, and he couldn’t stay while she only saw right through him. Not anymore, he laughed ironically to himself, “I gave up my ship for you, for that memory potion…to bring you and Henry back here.”

 

“I’m sorry, Killian, but I never asked for you to do that…” Emma chided. She was mourning, and wallowing in her newfound emotions, and he was trying to make her feel guilty over a damned boat. “Regina gave me and Henry our happy ending, she gave me memories of Henry that only a **mother** would have. And you expect me to be grateful you gave up a hunk of wood and rope for me!?”

 

He should have kept that to himself, his sudden declaration did nothing but make her sick. Is that how he had honestly planned on winning her over? For him to bring it up at such an inappropriate time...Emma shook her head, furious. “I have to go; I have to go explain to Henry why his other mother is laying in a hospital bed right now. I have to go explain to my son that his other mother isn’t going to wake up. You can take your ship and shove it up your pirate ass, Hook.”

 

She didn’t look behind her; she didn’t care to see his face as she strode past him. Wiping her cold cheeks on her sleeve as she strode down the street. When she reached the door to Granny’s, she looking through the window and saw her son, Henry, laughing and enjoying a cup of cocoa with Ruby. Emma tried to smile, tried to steel herself for what she was about to go in there and tell him. There was no way to prepare herself though, she felt like the grim reaper, approaching the person she loved most in the world, with the gravest of news.

 

With one last sigh, Emma reached for the door handle, and stepped through the door into Granny’s Diner…

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this first chapter. Or at the very least I hope it tore your heart into little tiny pieces. Comments & Kudos are appreciated.
> 
> "I Don't Own OUAT."


	2. Medicine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When is Hope not enough?
> 
> (Chapter revised 7/6/2017. Minor adjustments made. -Bre)

_Chapter 2_

_Medicine_

_This chapter was inspired by the song Medicine by Daughter._

_Hope you enjoy it. Or that it more or less rips your heart apart._

 

* * *

Emma hesitated as she stepped through the door, the whole diner went quiet. No one had heard anything back yet about the fight, but it’s a small town, so everyone had seen and heard the ambulance. They’d seen the police car taking Zelena to the station, but they only had rumors to fuel their whispers. The look on Emma’s face was enough to start more whispers though. Henry looked up from his cocoa, a smile on his face, anxious to hear how it all went. Always the optimist, her kid, he must get that from his Charming grandparents. Emma’s face was sullen as she approached the booth slowly. She didn’t sit down, instead she pulled Henry up, and embraced him as if he might be lost too if she let go.

 

“Ma?” He begged from within the grips of her bear tight hug, “Ma!” He said a bit louder when Emma still didn’t release him. “Where is everyone? Where’s mom?”

 

That plea from her son was enough to tear her apart all over again. She didn’t want to do this here; she didn’t want to break this news to him in front of all the onlookers in the diner. She released Henry, but only long enough to grab his hand with her gloved one, and pull him to the back of the diner and up the stairs to their rented room. When they finally reached the room, Henry ripped his hand from Emma’s with frustration, “What’s going on?”

 

Emma turned slowly, clasping her hands together; there was no easy way to tell him this. “Did someone get hurt? I saw the ambulance, but no one knows anything solid yet.” He was now growing frantic, as Emma’s silence said more than she knew.

 

“Henry,” Emma choked, “Regina…Your mom, she’s…” The words didn’t want to come out, saying them out loud, especially to Henry made them so much more real. “Regina’s at the hospital.”

 

Henry was already heading for the door, running down the stairs. Emma chased him, bursting into the diner, following him as quickly as she could. His legs had grown longer with puberty, and he was harder to catch these days. “Henry!” She shouted after him as he burst from the diner. She was quick on his heels, and caught his arm right as he reached the street.

 

“How bad is it?” He shouted at her, “And don’t lie to me anymore!”

 

Emma pursed her lips, she’d never been very good with tragedy, and now it was wrapping its cold claws around both of them like a dense fog. “She hit her head, Henry; she’s not in good condition…” Emma couldn’t bring herself to tell him that she was dying. He would figure that out on his own soon enough. She’d save him the gory details; he didn’t need to visualize all the blood…There had been so much blood. Emma’s stomach turned remembering it.

 

“Well what are we waiting for? We should be at the hospital.” He was already getting into Emma’s yellow Volkswagen Beetle.

 

* * *

 

 

They drove in silence to the hospital, which thankfully was only a block away. Thank goodness for small towns. Henry didn’t leave her time to park; as soon as she slowed near the entrance he bolted from the car and ran inside. Not caring about parking and being daughter of the acting sheriff she didn’t worry about a ticket, she bounded in after her son. By the time she reached the front desk Henry was already off again. He’d barely waited for the receptionist to tell him what room his mom was in before he’d set off at a run again.

 

She finally caught up to him as he stood outside of room 118, he hadn’t gone in yet, he stood there, looking in the window at the sleeping figure in the bed. The stark white room with all its machines whirling, the figure in a crisp gown, tucked under pristine sheets. It looked fake. It didn’t look real. But the clipboard outside the door that read, “Regina Mills” was all too real. Sitting beside the bed was none other than Robin Hood, or whatever his name was in this realm.

 

Emma looked in, taking in every detail, pausing to look at her son’s face, to see him processing it too. They didn’t speak, they just stood there, and Emma reached for Henry’s hand squeezing it gently. He looked up at Emma, if he got any taller it they’d be eye to eye, and she saw the tears swimming there.

 

* * *

 

 

When they entered the room, Robin stood up and mumbled something about coffee before disappearing. Emma was grateful he left, seeing him so close to Regina made her feel something ugly, but she didn’t want to call it jealousy. To call it jealousy wouldn’t be fair to him, or to Regina. Regina was happy with Robin, Emma had witnessed that herself. With a sigh, she watched Henry approach Regina’s bed slowly. He sat in the chair Robin had just vacated, drawing it closer to the bed; he clutched his mother’s imobile hand.

 

Emma couldn’t bring herself to touch Regina, not when she was still struggling to deal with the emotions swirling in her heart. Was she really in love with Regina Pain-In-The-Ass Mills? Her eyes fixed on Regina’s face, Emma remembered how much her life changed when Henry brought her to Storybrooke. How she’d encountered the most intimidating and uptight woman on the planet, and how Regina had frustrated the hell out of her. How they’d fought, but when it came to saving one another they did so without question. How when Henry’s life had been in danger, they’d stopped at nothing to get him back. How they’d created realm transcending magic numerous times to save this town. They’d been through so much together, and now they were here.

 

The monitors gave off an eerie white noise, the clicks of the machine saving everything was like the ticking of a clock, a clock with no time, and Emma couldn’t stop thinking that she’d missed her chance. Her chance to see that she’d felt so deeply for Regina all along. The worst part was, she wasn’t sure how long Regina would lie like this before her brain finally gave up. Was it even fair to keep her on the machines?

 

Emma perked up when she caught movement outside the room, Doctor Whale was ushering her over. She peered at Henry, seeing his cheeks wet, but his eyes closed as he cradled his mother’s hand. She’d let him be with his mother for now, this was a lot to take in for the poor kid.

 

“Ms. Swan, I’m glad you’re here. As Regina has no family other than Henry, I would like to relay her charts to you. Oddly enough, she has you listed as her emergency contact.” Dr. Whale spoke while flipping through Regina’s folder. They’d already run a few tests, testing her brain activity, and they’d stapled the wound in her head closed. They’d then wrapped her head in bandages to slow the bleeding. Emma was shocked to hear Regina had her as an emergency contact, but she didn’t over think it. It was probably because of Henry.

 

“We managed to get the wound closed up nicely, and she lost a lot of blood but we did what we could for that.” He was dragging it out, Emma could feel it; he was putting off what she already knew he was going to say. “But, I’m afraid her brain isn’t responding the way it should. We’re running machines to keep her heart pumping and her lungs filtering oxygen….for now, she’s still alive.” He paused, looking sadly into Emma’s eyes, “I’m not sure how long the machines will keep her alive though, if her brain doesn’t wake up, she’ll remain in a vegetative state.”

 

Emma closed her eyes tightly, trying not to let any tears fall in front of Whale; this was no place for her to be turning soft. It’s not an easy thing to hear though, that the woman you just realized you love is not likely to wake up. The only things keeping her alive are machines. Emma put the back of her hand to her mouth, to stifle a sob. The Evil Queen, Regina Mills, the woman who had once held so much power in her hands, who had moved realms with her magic, was dying because her brain wouldn’t wake up.

 

“Even if she did wake up, there’s only a 5% chance she’d regain the function she once had, there’s been too much damage. I’m sorry…” Dr. Whale didn’t stick around long after delivering more apologies. He left it up to Emma to tell Henry that his mother wasn’t going to wake up. At least she wasn’t telling Henry that his mother was outright dead.

 

“Henry, honey,” She shook him gently, offering him a tissue to dry his wet cheeks. She sat him down on the small loveseat that was in the corner of the room by the window, and told him a shorter version of what Dr. Whale had told her. She tried not to let her emotions show through too much, because this wasn’t about her, this was about Henry and she needed to be strong for him.

 

“This is great news, she could wake up,” He exclaimed excitedly.

 

“No, kid, look you’re misunderstanding. The doctor says these sorts of things to soften the blow. The chances she’ll wake up aren’t likely.” Emma’s voice cracked, “I don’t want you to get your hopes up. This is just how these things work.”

 

“Isn’t Grams always saying, ‘The most important thing anyone can have is hope.’?”

 

Emma gaze fell to the hands she was clasping tightly in her lap. She wished she had the optimism of the rest of her family, but it seemed to have skipped a generation. “We can ‘hope’ all we want Henry, but the reality is, your mom was badly injured, and it’s damaged her brain extensively…she’s a vegetable…”

 

Henry blanched as if she’d struck him. She hadn’t meant to lose control; she hadn’t meant to say that so harshly, the look on his face now made her regret every word. She wanted to grab the words back, stuff them in her big mouth and swallow them before they could hurt someone who was already hurting enough. She had no right to squash his hope, just because she didn’t have any. “Henry, I’m sorry, that wasn’t fair for me to say.”

 

“We’re both hurting right now.” He choked, giving her a big hug before pulling away and mentioning something about flowers.

 

* * *

 

 

Emma stood in the room alone; she didn’t know what to do. She didn’t feel comfortable sitting in the chair by the bed, that was too intimate. She didn’t know how to behave. She smiled to herself slightly as it crossed her mind that this should be easier with Regina unconscious. But instead she found it just as nerve wracking. She didn’t know how long she stood there, hands resting on the foot of the hospital bed, gazing down at Regina. It looked so wrong, her lying in the bed, her red lipstick missing from her face, gauze about her head, and a stark hospital gown around her shoulders. The tubes going into her mouth and nose were all wrong too. It looked like Regina, and it didn’t look like Regina at all. Regina was always so strong, so poised, and this person lying in the bed was so vulnerable and exposed. It made Emma’s body ache, like when it’s wracked with fever and every inch hurts.

 

“I want to believe you’ll wake up, I really do,” Emma spoke softly, taking advantage of the room being vacant except the two of them, “If you wake, then what? I can barely talk to you now about it, let alone if you were conscious. Get it together, Swan.” Emma spoke half to herself, half to the unconscious brunette in the bed before her.

 

* * *

 

 

Robin stood outside the room, listening as Emma spoke to an unresponsive Regina. It was starting to make sense to him now, the long looks, the lingering touches, and the look on Emma’s face when Regina had fallen. He didn’t know how to handle this, it was one thing for Regina to be in a coma, it was a complete other thing for the birth mother of Regina’s son to be in love with her.  It felt wrong, him standing outside the room eves dropping. He didn’t wait too long before entering the room with two coffees in his hand, he cleared his throat loudly.

 

Emma looked up startled as Robin entered the room. He carried two coffees, thankfully he handed one of them to her. She sipped it gratefully. She had a feeling she wouldn’t be sleeping tonight, or any other night any time soon.

 

“I just passed Henry in the gift shop; I think he was trying to buy every flower arrangement they had in there.” He chuckled softly.

 

“Oh gods, thanks,” Emma said shuffling out of the room to go wrangle her overzealous son.

 

* * *

 

 

She never made it to the flower shop though, as she was passing a window in the hospital, something caught her eye. Looking out into the darkness, a beam of light was lighting up the distance. It was coming in the exact same direction as the barn where Zelena had been enacting her time spell. Emma groaned, was the Savior’s job never finished?

 

She ran back to room 118 and quickly asked Robin if he could be sure to call David to pick up Henry. Without any other explanation, except an OK from Robin, she was running out the door and hopping into her car that was still parked at the entrance of the hospital.

 

Zooming across the little town, she grumbled, “I really fucking hate magic, sometimes.”

 

The beam was definitely coming from the barn, when she jumped out of her car the barn doors were blown wide and the light coming from within was blinding. It almost looked like the barn was on fire.

 

“What on earth is that?” A voice shouted behind her. Emma turned, only to find none other than Killian Jones…Hook, standing not five feet from her.

 

“What are you doing here, Hook?” Emma shouted back. Of all the places to run into the pirate again, it had to be near another magical catastrophe?

 

“I saw the beam, and came running,” He responded snidely, as if she should have known why he was there.

 

“I’m going to go in and see what’s causing this, stay out here.” She instructed him, knowing full well he’d ignore her orders whether she said anything or not. Hook wasn’t the best at listening, or following orders. That was probably why he became a pirate to begin with.

 

The inside of the barn was a whirlwind, light was pouring from the inside of the magic circle Zelena had scratched into the dirty floor. Emma cursed, whatever it was, she needed to get closer to try and shut it down. There was probably something triggering it. She just needed to figure out what the trigger was and eliminate it.

 

Stepping closer she stumbled, or had she been pushed?

 

She wailed as the beam embraced her, all she saw was white; everything was too bright.

 

All the while in Storybrooke, the barn had gone dark. The beam of light had completely vanished.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this chapter went down a little easier than the first. Chapter 3 is going to be a bit graphic, so you've been warned in advance. Thanks for reading. Comments & Kudos are appreciated.
> 
> "I Don't Own OUAT Material."


	3. A Little taste

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emma falls back in time.
> 
> (Chapter revised 7/6/2017. Quite a few adjustments made to this chapter: grammatical errors as well as story flow changes. -Bre)

_Chapter 3_

_A Little Taste_

_I wrote this chapter to the song A Little Taste by Skyler Stonestreet_

_This chapter won’t be angsty, but I hope you enjoy it none the less._

* * *

 

 

Emma came to, opening her eyes to see a forest towering over her. It was so lush and green; the sun filtering through the ceiling of leaves left stars on the ground. She blinked hard, sitting up to find herself nowhere near the barn she had been investigating. Shaking her pounding head, she pressed a hand to her temple. Wait, there’d been the beam of light, the time spell, she’d stumbled into it. Or at least she thought she’d stumbled… Her head hurt, she must have hit it when she landed. Looking around she wondered where on earth she’d landed, or **when** for that matter.

 

Leaves rustled, Emma jumped to her feat, ready to protect herself from whoever was coming her way through the bushes. “Oh good, you’re awake,” A voice came her way; one that she really had hoped hadn’t followed her through time and space. “Hook?” She asked incredulously. “Aye, M’Lady, it seems we’ve stumbled through time.”

 

Emma groaned; she just couldn’t seem to shake this guy. Sometimes she felt like he was never going get a life of his own. “Well, do you know **when** we’ve ended up?” Emma asked harshly, hoping he had at least one good answer.

 

“I have yet to discern that, however I’m certain we’re in the Enchanted Forest,” He replied simply, offering her a small hunk of bread. Emma took it gratefully; she hadn’t eaten in quite some time. The whole Regina thing had preoccupied her so much she’d completely forgotten about food. Her stomach accepted the bread gratefully, but Emma still eyed Hook nervously. She had a sneaking suspicion that she hadn’t ‘stumbled’ into the time portal; her aching head had a small recollection of feeling like she might have been ‘pushed’. Which also begged to reason, why had Hook so conveniently been at the barn in the first place?

 

Not even bothering to ask where Hook had come by their breakfast, as she was sure he’d stolen it, she insisted they go find something more suitable to wear. They stood out like sore thumbs, and they needed to remain inconspicuous, they still weren’t sure **when** they were in time, and changing anything could be detrimental to their future. A small voice in her head whispered, ‘ _Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if the future was altered, maybe that future would have a living healthy Regina.’_

 

They quickly made work of a laundry line they came across. Hook finally changed out of his quite disgusting head to toe leather pirate attire, trading it for simple breeches and a tunic. Emma’s attire was a bit more complicated, the managed to find a dress her size, but the corset hanging on the line was much too small. Emma could feel Hook’s eyes practically glued to her bulging cleavage. Disgust roiled in her belly, he didn’t even have the decency to try to look away, and when he spoke to her his eyes didn’t wander any higher. “Well, we best get going before the owners of this establishment realized their laundry has been…plundered.” He rolled the last word off his tongue like he was savoring a pastry. It made Emma’s skin crawl.

 

Walking along the dirt roads in the forest was quite relaxing, even if internally Emma was frantic. She didn’t know how she’d get home, Henry would be distraught if she was gone too long, he was losing one mother, he didn’t need to lose the other one too. Emma stopped suddenly, turning to a nearby tree along the road, "I think I have a good idea 'when' we've ended up in time..."

 

Hook paused to examine the piece of parchment nailed to the tree Emma was looking at. "So, it seems we've found ourselves far enough back that Snow White is still a fugitive from the Evil Queen."

 

Emma rolled her eyes, shaking the hand off her shoulder that he had casually placed there. "We need to avoid anything regarding my parents, if we mess anything up they could end up never getting married, and then I won't be born."

 

"You seem to know an awful lot about time travel, Swan." Hook huffed as he tried to catch up with Emma's hastened strides. Why she was walking so fast all of a sudden, he wasn't sure.

 

As the rounded the corner, he discovered why she had been rushing. They have been nearing a little village for quite some time, and as they got closer there seemed to be a spectacle going on. The whole village was lined up along the road, one villager in particular was held by two of the Queens guards. Emma stopped suddenly, nearly being overrun by two large black horses as a glorious black carriage came up behind them. Emma stepped out of the way just in time to see the door of the carriage swing open and the Queen step out in a flourish of red velvet.

 

A guard next to the carriage boomed, "All hail, the Queen of the Enchanted Forest."

Emma stood wide eyed, she'd never seen Regina like this, and she had to admit she was as stunning as she was frightening. The Queen stepped away from the carriage and Emma caught her eye, although she should have Emma didn’t have the common sense to look away. The Queen, moved on though, she had business to attend to. She approached the villagers, a royal swagger in her step and a menacing look on her face. The Queen had been to this village only yesterday, and she had never noticed the blonde before. Queen Regina smirked to herself, she definitely would have noticed her, how could you not? She was dressed like a peasant, but her shoulders were squared, her expression without fear. The blonde looked entirely out of place amongst the others. The Queen couldn’t help but feel her curiosity peak.

 

Emma stared at the Evil Queen with awe. Her chest was stuck mid contraction; she’d forgotten how to breathe. The Queen was mesmerizing. She was so regal, so beautiful, but a menacing sneer danced on her lips. Emma saw her though, and the words left her mouth before she could stop them; “Regina…” she breathed.

 

The Queen should have been out of earshot, but the words carried on the breeze. The villagers surrounding them were silent as the dead, none of them daring to make a sound. None of them wanted to be the next recipient of the Evil Queen’s ire.

 

The Queen whipped around, her riding dress tangling around her leather boots. “That’s a bit informal, don’t you think. You’ll be wise to address me as Your Majesty, you little street rat….” The Queen growled at Emma. Emma cocked her head, completely enamored by Regina in this realm. The words from the Queen would have sent anyone else to cowering, groveling for forgiveness. No one disrespected the Evil Queen. Emma was not just another villager though, and nothing had prepared her for this moment. Instead of bowing her head, and laying low…Emma burst out laughing.

 

“Swan, what your you doing, shut up.” Hook’s voice beside her warned. But it was too late. "Seize her." The Queen ordered harshly, her hand directed in the direction of the blonde, knowing her guards would follow her orders without hesitation. Behind her she heard a struggle as the blonde was seized by two of the Queen’s men. The Queen heard a thump, and a grunt. Turning around again, she saw one of her guards laid out on the ground, and the other struggling to keep the blonde contained. “Well don’t just stand there, you idiots, take care of it.” The Evil Queen shouted to several other guards standing about. A wicked grin lit up the Queen’s face, as the blonde was dragged kicking and flailing to the barred carriage that was waiting.

 

If Hook had been the gentleman he claimed to be, he might have spoken up, attempted to fight for Emma’s release. But no one noticed as he disappeared into the crowd.

 

The Queen looked on at the rest of the villagers with disgust, they smelled horrible. Poverty had never quite been a taste she could stomach, and looking at the sorry faces before her made her insides churn. Her riding dress swept about her with a flourish as she paced before the villagers.

 

“Now you all are aware the penalty for aiding the fugitive, Snow White, so it won’t do any of you any good to hide her.” The Queen let a menacing smile lift her lips, “It’d be a shame to have to kill all of you.”

 

The Queen stopped before a shivering old man; he looked down at the ground, not daring to look her in the eye. The Queen laughed as she stood before him, he shook so bad she was sure he’d piss himself. “It will be better for all of you, if you just tell me where she is,” She cooed as she cupped his chin in one hand and forced his face up to look at hers.

 

“No?” The Queen let his face drop, “Very well then, kill him.” She snapped to her guards, indifferent as she strode away.

 

“Stop this, you needn’t kill innocent people!” I woman shrieked as the guards came down on the shaking old man.

 

“Ah, finally, someone has remembered how to speak.” The Queen clapped her hands together, spinning to address the woman. Behind her the guards had the man in a choke hold, a knife at his throat; awaiting only a nod from the Queen. The knife flashed across the old man’s throat and a river of blood flooded from the wound. He gargled and spat as the blood came out his nose and mouth. His body fell limply to the ground, laying there motionless as the blood seeped into the dirt road beneath him.

 

“I won’t tell you where she is, she’s long gone by now anyways. Your incessant bullying won’t help you find her.” The woman spat at the Evil Queen’s feet.

 

Regina’s face creased in disgust as the spittle hit one of her freshly shined riding boots. She looked up into the woman’s face with death already on her lips. “Well then, I suppose it won’t matter if I kill you or not then.”

 

The woman hollered as two more of the Queen’s guards seized the woman, holding her fast. “If you had any love in your heart, you wouldn’t do this.” The woman cried out, suddenly not so brave. Tears now streamed down the woman’s face, “I have a son, I have a family. If you knew anything about family, you wouldn’t kill me.”

 

The Queen sneered, turning away and waving her hand. The guards dragged the woman to the caged carriage and tossed the woman in with the blonde. The Queen passed the puddle of the old man, “What a pitiful sight…”

 

“Let this be a lesson to all of you, harboring a fugitive is punishable by death.” Somewhere in the crowd of people someone began sobbing, but Regina was already mounting the steps back into her carriage, barking at her guards to get moving.

 

The crowd didn’t move until her carriage was out of site, as soon as she rounded the bend the crowd descended on the old man’s dead body. They would proceed to mourn him and bury him, as they were accustomed to.

 

* * *

 

 

Emma cursed as she sat up against the bars of the rocking carriage. The woman at her feet, who hadn’t bothered to right herself when she’d been thrown in, was sobbing uncontrollably. Emma stared awkwardly, she wasn’t the best person to offer comfort to someone. She found it incredibly uncomfortable when people cried in front of her. It was one thing to have someone you knew and cared about crying in front of you, but a total stranger was beyond Emma’s social etiquette.

 

“What are the odds of us escaping before they throw us into, Regi—the Queen’s, dungeon?” Emma finally choked out, hoping to get the tousled woman to stop crying.

 

The woman looked up, a mess of tangled hair a silhouette to her olive complexion, “No one ever escapes the Evil Queen.” Emma huffed as the woman resumed her chest heaving sobs. “We’ve got to have some plan of action, or we’ll be dead by sunrise. I’ve seen enough movies to know how this ends if we sit around crying and doing nothing.” The woman’s face contorted in confusion as she stared blankly at Emma.

 

“Who are you?” The woman blurted rather rudely, “My village isn’t large, I know every face, and I know for a fact that I have never seen you before.”

 

Emma blanched; she hadn’t expected this stranger to call her out so quickly. Emma stammered, trying to think up a feasible excuse quickly, “I was traveling with my, um, brother, we got caught in the fray.”  Emma knew as soon as the excuse left her lips, that it was a poor one. She didn’t have anything better at her disposal, the whole traveling back in time thing hadn’t really give her time to come up with any answers for strangers.

 

They spent the rest of the ride in silence; the woman had finally sat up and was glancing at Emma out of the corner of her eye, distrust evident on her face. There wasn’t much else to do but watch the forest pass by as they were tossed about on the pot hole ridden, dirt road. By the time Emma’s butt was sore enough, she was sure she’d not sit for days, the carriage slowed and turned onto cobbled stones. Peering through the bars Emma’s breath left her lungs, as she stared in awe up at the magnificent castle she’d only ever seen illustrations of, in Henry’s book.

 

Let’s just say, the book did it no justice. It was so tall that wisps of clouds danced about the peaks of the towers. The stone was gray, but as the sun peaked through the clouds, the stones seemed to sparkle. It was both ominous and magnificent. It was more beautiful than she’d ever imagined. Looking at its walls growing larger as they approached, she began to understand why no one ever escaped. The walls were lined with soldiers dressed in black, swords hanging at their belts and bows in their hands. The drawbridge lowered with a great thud, the chains shaking as the momentum was dispersed. A cry came from the wall, “The Queen has returned.” A trumpet sounded somewhere, announcing their arrival.

 

Suddenly Emma’s corset felt too tight, she struggled to take in each breath as their cage passed through the gate. They passed through the outer sanctions of the castle, the places where the poor begged and the soldiers were quartered. Another gate loomed before them, larger than the last, its black iron rising slowly as they approached. For a brief moment, Emma thought it would not rise quickly enough for the carriages to pass through. A shout halted their carriage; it stopped so quickly that Emma was thrown forward, and was ungracefully sprawled on the floor as the barred door was thrown open. One of the Queen’s guards grabbed her about the arm so roughly she was sure there’d be a hand print like bruise there the next day. Her demands to know where she was going fell on deaf ears, they didn’t even glance at her as she stumbled along. Behind her she heard her carriage companion cry out, a furious shriek, a thud, and then silence. Glancing back, she could barely make out the limp body of the woman being dragged in the opposite direction.

 

“Where are they taking her?” Emma demanded from the soldier that held her. A throaty grunt was all she received, to which she wasn’t surprised. The guard hauled her through countless corridors, the stone walls leaving a chill throughout the place. Emma shivered. There were tapestries hanging here or there, likely to warm the place up, but Emma had a strong feeling that it wasn’t just cold because of the stone. This place felt of death.

 

The room Emma was thrown into was not exactly what she had expected. She was certain they would throw her into a rat-infested dungeon that had mold growing in the cracks on the walls. Instead she found herself in a lavish room. In the center of the room, stood a four-poster bed, clearly designed to be the center of attention. Its giant pillows and comforter looking more inviting than anything else she’d ever seen before. A fire crackled in the hearth, Emma moved quickly to it, warming her hands as she rubbed her arm where the guard had man handled her. Heavy crimson drapes hung about the windows; looking out, Emma saw a lake below. A vanity sat on the opposite side of the room, littered with miscellaneous bottles and powders, thick fur rugs lined the stone floor, and several candelabras positioned on the edges of the room gave the whole place a very warm and inviting feel.

 

To say Emma was confused would be putting it lightly; this looked like a woman’s bed chambers, or at the very least, a lavish guest room. But she had not arrived like a guest. Emma doubted Regina entertained anything less than wealth. The borrowed clothes Emma wore were scratchy, she tugged at them in discomfort. What an unfamiliar, baffling, situation she had found herself in...

 

Emma tried the door, it was latched from the outside. She slammed her fist into the heavy wood. She shouted and banged, but no one answered. She paced the room, she tried to find any way she might escape. She needed to get home, she needed to get back to Henry. Henry needed her, and she couldn’t be there for him if she was stuck in the past.

 

“Why am I here!?” Emma screamed at the door, throwing a heavy bookend at the door. It bounced off and rolled across the floor with a heavy clatter. Still there was no answer.

 

Hours went by, no one came, and nothing happened.

 

* * *

 

 

Emma started, the doors flew open and a stream of servants strode in. They all carried various things, one carried a pile of linens, some carried steaming pots of water, another carried several large boxes, and the last carried a rather large bundle of satin. Emma’s mouth must have hung open as she stood in the middle of the room, unsure of what she was supposed to do or think about all this. The servants were filling a large brass tub that stood behind a screen she had not noticed, in her angry pacing. A rather burley woman, who seemed to be giving directions to the other servants, pushed Emma in the direction of the screen. Disregarding Emma’s protests, she was stripped and thrust into the steaming water. One servant tugged at her hair, another grabbed at her arms, scrubbing and tugging, pulling and soaping. By the time, they had her out of the bath and dry, she was red all over and shivering.

 

The burley woman clapped, finally addressing Emma as she spoke, “You’ll dress, and be retrieved for dinner in one hour. Ruby here will attend to your toilette.” Without another word the large woman left, leaving only herself and Ruby. Emma finally took a good look at the servant girl that stood before her, ready to help her dress. “Ruby?” Emma looked at her in disbelief. She hadn’t remembered reading about Ruby being a servant girl in Henry’s book, but she’d never really bothered to ask Ruby much about her past in the enchanted forest. When she got home, she’d remind herself to ask Ruby about all this.

 

Emma soon found out that Ruby was just as chatty in the Enchanted Forest as she was in Storybrooke. Emma found herself laughing and bantering with Ruby just as if they were enjoying cocoa at the diner. It was all very strange though, several times Emma caught herself nearly spilling things she shouldn’t know. Ruby never seemed to notice Emma stammering over certain topics, so Emma tried to keep the topics away from herself. By the time, they heard a hard knock on the door, Ruby had curled Emma’s hair about her head, pinning pieces so that it all cascaded about her shoulders and framed her face. The dress she wore fit better than the one she’d stolen when first arriving, but it was still incredibly tight in the bust. Emma felt like her boobs were in her throat. The satin was soft though, and she found herself running her hands over the skirts, admiring the quality of the material. She’d fought with Ruby about the makeup, she’d refused to line her eyes heavily with kohl, and she had blanched at the insistence of powder. She preferred her face as natural as possible.  

 

When the door opened and a manservant offered his hand to escort her to dinner, Emma was so nervous she wasn’t sure she could walk. She didn’t feel much like a prisoner, but she knew she was not free either. She kept silent on the walk to dinner, as she was quickly learning; either the servants didn’t speak because they didn’t know the answers, or they kept quiet out of fear. Emma heavily suspected it was the later.

 

The manservant left her at the giant double doors that no doubt led to the dining hall. Emma’s throat felt thick, her hands shook. But she squared her shoulders; she wouldn’t let anyone know that she was afraid. Saviors don’t have time to be afraid, she told herself. The dress she wore hung just off her shoulders, leaving her shoulders peaking from beneath the small sleeves. The soft pink hue set off her pale complexion and blonde hair, as she caught her reflection in a mirror, she hardly recognized herself. Emma wasn’t your average girly girl, and only on rare occasions had ever donned a dress. Seeing the unfamiliar reflection staring back, made her feel even more out of place in this realm. Herself aside, Emma quirked her brow, taking note of the obnoxious number of mirrors that littered the walls. _Every good story, needs a cliché…_ Emma thought to herself. Regina had a weird thing for mirrors, past and present.

 

“Well duh, she’s the Evil Queen, ‘Mirror mirror on the wall,’ that whole bit.” Emma snickered to herself, under her breath.

 

“Mirror, mirror on the wall, indeed.” A seductive voice echoed from the room before her. The doors had opened without her realizing, revealing a grand room with an overly lavish table laden with every assortment of food possible. Standing off to the side of the table, silhouetted by the light of the rising moon streaming through the floor to ceiling window, stood Regina; The Evil Queen.

 

* * *

 

 

To say dinner was awkward would be a lie. Emma wanted to be uncomfortable, she should have been; she was sitting in a medieval castle, wearing a corseted dress, and sitting across from the Evil Queen. But instead she found herself staring in awe at the woman before her. She knew Regina had done some terrible things as Queen, but she also knew ‘why’ she had done those things. She knew what had driven her to become that Evil woman. Seeing the Queen before her, she saw the Evil, but looking deeper she saw the pain. She saw the loneliness, the young woman who had been hurt and manipulated at such a young age. Forced into a life she didn’t want by power hungry people. _Evil isn’t born…it’s made._ Regina’s entire young life, she had been manipulated and molded into the person she was now. She’d never wanted to be evil, but rage and circumstance had turned her bitter.

 

They didn’t speak much as they ate their food. Emma had eyed the dishes before her skeptically at first. But her stomach betrayed her with a growl. She’d barely eaten a thing in the last 24 hours. She was famished, and she took notice of the Queen eyeing her curiously as she ate.  There were far too many utensils on the table. Emma’s lips tightened in frustration, deciding not to give a rats ass if she was using the wrong fork. She figured, using the wrong fork, would be better than using her hands. She was already confused by the invitation to dine with the Queen, and the lavish rooms… The last thing she needed was for the Queen to think her barbaric, and change her mind. Throwing Emma in the dungeon, would not do her any good when it came to getting home.

 

Regina watched her guest closely as she patted her mouth gently with her napkin, not marring the rose red stain that painted her lips. “Have you tried the wine?” Regina asked as she took a delicate sip of her own glass. Emma stammered, grabbing her glass all too quickly and taking a deep swig. Regina didn’t react to the blonde’s actions. Emma eyed the Queen warily above her glass. The Queen was silent, picking at some grapes on her plate. Emma’s belly warmed at the picture before her. How had Emma never noticed her attraction to Regina before? Why had her realization come too little too late? Sitting here in this far-off land, enjoying good food and warm wine, it was easy to forget the heartbreaking situation back home. It was easy to forget that her Regina lay in a stark white hospital room, with tubes keeping her alive. Emma’s face fell, the woman before her was one in the same, but it all ended the same way.

 

Regina quirked her brow, noticing the fall in her guest’s face, clapping her hands she ordered a servant standing at the wall to pour more wine. The wine was rich and as red as the lipstick that stained the Queen’s lips. She smiled, a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes, “I hope you’ve found your accommodations to your liking.”

 

Emma cleared her throat, “Erm, ya, sure…” She paused taking another swig of her wine, “I am a bit confused though… Why, exactly, am I here?”

 

“Can a Queen, not desire to enjoy her guest’s company?” Regina spoke with a lilt in her tone, sipping from her wineglass again, the slighted hint of a smile dancing on her lips.

 

“I rode here in a cage, that doesn’t seem like a good way to transport guests...” Emma’s voice took on its sheriff tone, not accepting the Queen’s dismissal for a moment. As much as she didn’t want to be home watching Regina die, she wasn’t sure she wanted to be enjoying dinner with the Evil Queen either.

 

“I’m merely intrigued by you, and thought we might enjoy each other’s company. It’s not every day I come across a woman, confident enough to challenge me in broad daylight.” Regina replied in a manner that was likely supposed to sound comforting.

 

Emma snorted, “I wouldn’t exactly call what happened, a challenge.”

 

“You’re lucky I haven’t thrown you in the dungeon, with that other insolent girl. You’ll do well to remember that.” The Queen clipped.

 

Emma stared on at the Queen, not even flinching when the Queen’s eyes met hers. “Why do you stare at me, as if you’ve seen a ghost?” The Queen let her question linger, but as minutes passed, she knew she would receive no answer. Only then had Emma dared to look away, busying herself with her plate of food.

 

The Queen pressed on, incredibly curious about her guest, “Who was the gentleman that accompanied you today? Surely he will be worried sick at your abduction.”

 

Emma choked briefly on a sip of wine, she had completely forgotten about Hook, coughing under her breath she found her voice, “He’s, um, he was...just accompanying me, I do not know him well.” Emma found the lie about Hook came easily to her. Even just the mention of him made her stomach tighten. She wasn’t at all sure what might have happened to him after she was taken, but likely he’d be deep in his cups and a whore by now. He was, after all, back in the place he missed most.

 

Regina studied her guests face as she described her traveling companion, her almost unnoticeable hesitation might have been lost on someone lesser, but Regina saw it. She’d store that away for later, as she continued to get to know the woman before her. Tossing that topic to the wind, Regina casually changed the subject, “How rude of me, my manners have escaped me. I’m sure you are quite aware who I am, but I would love the pleasure of knowing who you are, my dear.”

 

 _Shit_ , Emma’s thoughts rang through her head, alarm bells sounding. She couldn’t give Regina her real name, which spelled major disaster. Emma wasn’t the best at improvised lying, so she blurted the first name that came to her lips. “Leia, I’m um, Princess Leia.” Emma inwardly cringed; she wasn’t sure why she was having a Star Wars moment. When Emma had been a bale bonds person, she would spend hours, extensively crafting her persona. Creating the perfect cover to reel in her targets. She could kick herself for not thinking to do that in this situation. All that time she’d been pacing in her ‘rooms’, she could have been crafting her story…

 

“So, I was correct in my assessment of you, you looked so out of place in that village, dressed in rags. Were you set upon by bandits?” Regina asked nonchalantly taking a bite of her roasted swan.

 

“Erm, yes, our carriage lost a wheel, and while we were trying to repair it, we were robbed. My companion and I fled in fear; and we changed clothes so we wouldn’t meet a worse fate.” Emma’s face remained emotionless as she tried to make her story sound convincing.

 

“I see, well, Princes Leia,” Regina smiled at her, tipping her glass in toast, “I am so pleased to have you join me tonight.”

 

Emma smiled back at Regina, the Evil Queen’s face was a glorious reflection of the Regina back at home. Her hair was longer, her makeup was heavy, and her demeanor was deadly; but she was every bit Regina. Emma tipped her glass too, taking another deep drink. Emma sighed heavily, her head feeling light. Emma’s vision seemed more vivid, her heart suddenly pounding. Emma glanced at her wine glass, and then back to the Queen. “Did you drug me?”

 

“The grapes from my northern vineyard, are said to be the most potent in all the realm. I’ve grown quite accustomed to them, after all these years. For someone unaccustomed to their potency though…”

 

“This can’t be happening,” Emma choked out, standing up quickly from the table.

 

“I do apologize, Princess, had I known you were such a light weight I would have had my servants add some water to your wine…” The Queen actually looked flustered for a moment. But she swept that off, standing graciously from her seat. She moved towards an adjoining door in the room. “Perhaps, some tea will settle you?”

 

Emma’s brow furrowed, everything about this evening was confusing the living hell out of her. Her head was fuzzy, she shouldn’t have had any of that wine. _Damn it, Swan! How are you supposed to come up with a plan of escape, if you’re deep in your cups?_ Emma kicked herself. Bale bonds person 101, don’t drink while on the job. Emma was really striking out today. The company she was sharing, was hampering her judgement. Did she dare follow the Queen to the next room, could she even trust this Regina?

 

“Tea…Tea sounds quite nice. Unless you have coffee!” Emma chirped too brightly. _Tone it down, Swan…_

 

The Queen chuckled under her breath, careful not to let her guest hear it, “Very well, Princess, do follow me.”


	4. Hollow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get complicated.
> 
> (This chapter was revised on 7/6/2017. This entire chapter has been rewritten to better serve the over all plot of my story. There is no longer need of a dub-con warning. Questions? Feel free to inbox me. -Bre)

_Chapter 4_

_Hollow_

_Inspired by the song Hollow_ _by_ _Tori Kelly_

* * *

 

 

It was a quiet night in Storybrooke, streetlights flickered, and a bitter wind stirred up the leaves gathered in the gutters. The one street light in the town flashed yellow, somewhere a dog barked; everything seemed normal. People on the streets walked with quick steps to their destinations, coats pulled tight against the creeping chill. The temperature was falling more and more with each day, as fall completely said goodbye and the grips of winter set in. Snow was falling again, determined to wash away all traces of color in the sleepy little town. Henry sat in the bedroom he shared with his mom, Emma, inside Mary Margaret’s apartment. They hadn’t been back here since they’d returned to town. Emma had insisted on them renting a room at Granny’s, because she hadn’t planned on staying. He’d missed this place though, even if he hadn’t known he was missing it when they were in New York. His breath fogged the window as he stared down at the street. He heard his uncle, baby Neal squalling from downstairs, and hushed voices followed. As much as the room comforted him, as much as he was glad it wasn’t a room at Granny’s, he didn’t want to be here; he wanted to be back at his mother’s bed side, holding her hand. He knew she shouldn’t be alone right now. But Mary Margaret and David had insisted he go home to rest and have a proper dinner. He could hear the bustling in the kitchen downstairs as they busied themselves making the proper dinner they thought he needed. He heaved a sigh; it had been a few hours since his Mom had headed out on the call about the barn. The beam of light had since disappeared, but something didn’t feel quite right. His gut was clenched, and he felt like they should have received an “All okay,” call from her already.

 

Finding no peace in looking out the window, Henry looked about the room he shared with Emma. It wasn’t much. The loft was only two (sort of) bedrooms. Mary Margaret and David, his grandparents, shared the curtained off room downstairs, and Emma and him shared the room upstairs. The apartment was so small; it made him long for his own room back at his Mother’s house. He really had hoped that after all this Wicked Witch stuff, him and Ma would look into getting a place of their own here. Especially with his grandparents now having a newborn, the small loft was feeling more suffocating every day.

 

Distracting himself from those thoughts, he moved closer to the door that led downstairs, surely thinking dinner would be ready by now. As he approached the door though he slowed, tilting his head closer to the opening, he listened to the voices that were becoming heated.

 

“Try your radio again, surely she’ll answer. It’s been a few hours, David, she should have responded by now.” Mary Margaret hissed, trying to keep her voice down so as not to alert Henry or distress Neal any further.

 

“I’ve tried it, each time all I get is static in response.” David’s voice was forced as he tried to remain the level headed one.

 

“Something is wrong, I can feel it. She shouldn’t have been gone this long without checking in.” Henry heard pacing, and he could no longer eavesdrop at the door. Throwing open the door he pounded down the stairs.

 

“We need to go out there and check things out,” Henry blurted, not bothering to hide that he had been listening in.

 

His appearance was met with a scowl from Mary Margaret and a screech from baby Neal. Huffing, Mary Margaret excused herself to the bassinet. Lifting Neal from his blankets, she pressed him to her chest, slowly rocking back in forth as she stared at David. Her brows were drawn, as she silently pleaded with him.

 

“Alright, I’ll drive out there and check things out.” He conceded but as his wife began to open her mouth, he added, “But I’m sure all is well. Just stay here and finish fixing dinner, I’ll be back before it’s finished.”

 

David grabbed his deputy’s belt and coat from the hook by the door, and shrugged them on. Henry grabbed for his coat and scarf, to which David protested, “No, Henry, you should stay here and help your grandmother with dinner.”

 

“One of my mothers’ is dying, and the other is now missing. I won’t sit around and twiddle my thumbs while I could be helping.” Henry growled, squaring his shoulders as he met David’s eyes.

 

Henry had grown so much in the last year, his voice was changing and he grew taller by the minute. Where he had once hugged their stomachs, he now nearly looked them all in the eyes. He was going to be tall, and it was strange for all of them to have a young man before them, instead of the little boy he had once been.

 

“Just take him,” Mary Margaret whispered, her face showing tears in her eyes. She was so emotional lately, having just had her baby, her body was still running high on pregnancy hormones. She blinked her eyes fiercely, forcing the tears back. She placed a sleeping Neal back in the bassinet before placing a kiss on David’s mouth. A gentle hug to Henry and she ushered them out the door. “I’ll see you all soon, dinner will be waiting.” She called after them as they descended the apartment stairs.

 

* * *

 

 

Emma’s throat clenched, she swallowed hard trying to rid herself of the lump there. The room was so dim, lit only by a roaring fire and dozens of candles. She hadn’t known what to expect when she’d followed the Queen into the next room. But she certainly hadn’t expected to find such a casual sitting room. It was lined with lush furs, and there were lounge chairs and chaises scattered about. The Queen led Emma to a soft chaise, sitting before the fire. It was pleasantly warm, the fire ridding the room of any chill. A servant girl, as quiet as a mouse, placed a tray on the small table before them. The girl moved to pour the tea, but the Queen waved the girl away.

 

Emma eyed the whole silent exchange, she’d read the stories in Henry’s book, she’d heard the rumors about the Evil Queen. Hell, she witnessed a little bit of it back in that village. She knew the Evil Queen was ruthless and cruel, but sitting a few feet from her, with the glow of the fire on their faces; Emma couldn’t help thinking that she looked, soft.

 

The Queen bent forward, pouring their tea so carefully, regal in every movement. Emma stared at the gleaming silver cups, completely entranced. “For you, dear.” The Queen gingerly placed a cup and saucer in Emma’s pale hands. Emma mumbled, a barely audible ‘thanks,’ before taking a careful sip.

 

They sat there for quite some time, the only sound was the fire crackling. Emma finished her first cup of tea, and was well into her second—finally feeling the hazed sensation the wine had left her in, drifting away. She sighed, slouching slightly into the cushions behind her. Her corset bit into her sides, and she grunted. She really hated dresses. How the hell had women put up with these godawful things for so long?

 

“So, dear Princess, tell me about your kingdom? What brought you to my realm?” The Queen finally broke the silence, pretending not to notice her guest slumping in her seat.

 

Emma cleared her throat, once again clamoring for what her response should be. _Regina really has always been incredibly nosey and opinionated, now hasn’t she._ “Where I’m from, is a bit different from your kingdom. My home is quite informal, the ruling family, my family, is more or less just a figurehead. The kingdom itself is run by elected people.” Emma tried her best to be vague, and make it sound boring; in hopes the Queen would move onto a different subject.

 

Emma’s answer did quite the opposite though, the Queen turned to her with brows raised. “Elected rulers?” The Queen laughed deeply, her head thrown back to expose her throat. “I can’t at all see the benefits of that!”

 

“It’s simple really, the elected ‘rulers’ serve the people’s best interests. It’s a way of keeping things productive and fair. To better the realm, and keep selfish people from being able to use the realm for evil.” Emma should have stopped while she was ahead, the Evil Queen now stared at her incredulously.

 

Emma blanched, sure that she had overstepped, sure that the Queen’s next move would be to throw her into the dungeon. _Insert foot to mouth, really Swan?_ The look of disbelief faded from the Queen’s face, and again she burst out laughing. “You’ve got quite some nerve, Princess.”

 

Her laugh was rich, like molten chocolate. Emma couldn’t help but admire the curve of the Queen’s throat, as she chuckled. Or how soft the Queen’s hair looked, falling like a waterfall around her. The Queen’s hair was half up, and the rest flowed like a black river down her back. It was like an ebony hued halo. What a dark angel she was. The candles set about the room, made her hair shine like, staring at a polished stone.

 

“You have yet to tell me, Princess, what brought you into my realm? Where were you and your,” her voice played with the next word, rolling it on her tongue, “companion?”

 

Emma shuddered, thinking of what the Queen meant with her insinuation of the word ‘companion.’ The last thing Emma wanted to think about was any sort of ‘companion’ activities. The one time they had kissed, in Neverland, has been weird. They had been so tired, so worn out, so desperate to rescue Henry. Hook had stolen that kiss, and Emma hadn’t fought him off, because she thought maybe it would feel nice. Maybe there would be a spark, she had thought. But there is had been nothing, no sensation. She’d come away from it feeling like it would have been more enjoyable to kiss a tree. He was too brash, too hurried. He had crashed his lips against hers like a ship crashes against waves. It wasn’t sexy, it wasn’t exciting, it was painful and gross. He had swaggered away afterwards, so certain that he had wooed her. Emma had felt the need to go find a small stream, to wash her mouth. Hook had wasted no time of course, blabbering on to everyone about their ‘moment.’ Emma could still remember the confused look on Regina’s face after that news had come out.

 

Emma came back to herself, she felt eyes on her, watching her closely. “Actually, we got quite lost, and weren’t sure exactly what realm we were in. Until of course, I happened upon meeting you.” Again, Emma tried to keep it vague, keep it uninteresting. Dodging the Queen’s question as best she could. It wasn’t exactly a lie either. She was lost, she hadn’t been quite sure **where** or **when** she was until spotting that poster and the Queen herself.

 

“You are quite the mystery, now aren’t you.” It wasn’t a question, it wasn’t a jab, it was quite matter of fact. Emma felt a blush creep up her neck and into her cheeks. The Queen reached across the space between them, to stroke some of the pink that had risen to the blonde’s face. “So, delicate.”

 

The Queen’s dress was midnight blue velvet that hugged every curve. Accented with crystals, the dress looked like the night sky, and it all just seemed to make the woman before her look like a goddess. The Queen’s eyes were filled with an undefinable emotion. Emma stumbled as she felt Her Majesty grasp her hand, tugging at her arm, driving her from the chaise they had been sitting on.

 

The sensation of fuzziness from the wine, had long since vanished. She didn’t know how long they had been sitting there, mostly in silence, drinking up the feeling of each other’s presence. Emma resisted only partially, as she let the Queen lead her away. Where they were headed, she had no idea. She found herself so curious though. The Queen had said that Emma was quite the mystery—but it was Emma, who believed the Queen to be the greatest mystery. How was she so commanding and cruel one moment, and the next she seemed gentle and almost _lost_.

 

The Queen led Emma out onto a balcony, from their height they could see dotted lights across the land, the moon shining down on that lake below. And above them, the sky was riddled with so many stars it made Emma gasp. The sight was breathtaking, Emma stared in awe of how beautiful it was. Growing up in the city, she’d been more accustomed to sky scrapers, and the choking smog from all the taxis. Then in Storybrooke, she’d come to know the night sky, but even that sleepy town was bright enough to mute some of the stars. It was nothing like what she saw now. Staring up at the vastness of space, in this world that wasn’t her own, Emma felt so very small. So small, for they were but a spec in the fabric of time.

 

Emma didn’t notice, she was too lost in her own thoughts—she didn’t notice the Queen watching her intently. Regina had stood on this balcony, or any number of the other balconies in her castle, and seen the same night sky, night after night. Something was different tonight though, what had started out as a manipulation game, to figure out who and what her guest was about, was quickly turning into something else.

 

Regina was fascinated by the blonde woman, fascinated by the intelligence and the spark she saw in the woman’s eyes. No one had made her truly laugh in so long, it had felt foreign in her throat. She took in the blonde Princess, her green eyes drowning in moonlight as she stared heavenward. For the first time in a long time, the Evil Queen, felt a faint flutter in her chest.

 

And it scared her to death.

 

Emma felt a rush, as a stiff wind blew through her elaborately styled hair. She came back down from her thoughts. A smile playing on her pink lips. Only to find she was alone on the balcony.

 

The Queen was gone.

 

* * *

 

 

Confused, Emma found herself back in the over decorated rooms she’d been given for her stay. Ruby returned to help her undress and prepare to turn in. Emma had growled at needing help removing the stupid dress they’d put her in. She was uncomfortable, and felt ridiculous. She had no idea why the Queen had just vanished like that, and she couldn’t help thinking that it didn’t mean anything good for her.

 

Finally alone in the room once more, the door again locked from the outside, the gravity of her situation hit her. She needed to get home, she needed to get back to Henry, and more than anything she wanted to spend whatever time was left next to her Regina.

 

The Queen here was cold and vengeful, but yet, Emma had sensed a tenderness tonight. It was there, just under the surface, that Emma sensed Regina. The same Regina that she would meet in Storybrooke, one fateful night decades from now. The same Regina that would stop at nothing to save their son. The same Regina who wouldn’t think twice about battling her demons, to keep her loved ones safe.

 

It took Emma’s breath away. She didn’t know how to process it.

 

The room grew colder, the further the flames in her fire died. The shadows in the room danced eerily across the walls. Emma shivered, finding herself huddling into the large plush bed at the center of the room. Her mind was exhausted from everything that had transpired in the last 48 hours. Neal being kidnapped, the fight with Zelena, Regina… _fuck!_ Emma’s thoughts returned to Regina, the Regina back in Storybrooke. So fragile looking in that hospital bed. Emma broke, a sob ripping from her as she buried herself in the pillows. A part of her knew she needed to be thinking of how to escape, and how to get home, but for the moment all she did was lose herself in grief. The kind of grief that overwhelms you, the kind of grief when you feel as if all hope is lost. Here she was trapped in another realm, with no way home, and having to stare straight into the face of the woman she would undoubtedly lose in the end.

 

* * *

 

 

The patrol car crept down the gravel drive, approaching the dark barn cautiously. The spotlight and headlights lit the way in front of them as they took in the surroundings. Everything was incredibly silent, and it had Henry’s skin crawling with goose flesh. He drew his scarf closer around his neck before breaking the silence, “There!” He pointed suddenly, “That’s Emma’s car.” Sure enough parked right outside the barn was Emma’s yellow bug.

 

David put the patrol car in park, but left it running so they could make use of the light from the spotlight and the head lights. David’s gut was in his chest, as he inched forward, hand resting on the gun at his waist. He hadn’t been able to coax Henry to stay in the car, and that made him extremely nervous. Henry approached Emma’s car at a rushed pace, but David waved him to wait. He opened the car door slowly, peering about the whole time.

 

“The keys are still in the ignition,” Henry whispered, pointing to the steering console.

 

David nodded, not daring to speak; afraid he would give away his nervousness. It was too quiet, and Emma shouldn’t have been gone this long. He tried the radio again, “Charming to Swan. Over.” When there was no answer David let out a huff, “Come on little swan, where are you?”

 

He’d never dared to call Emma that before, they were still building their father daughter relationship after all, but when she wasn’t around he’d taken to calling her his ‘little swan’. Because from ugly situations and curses, she had grown into such a remarkable woman; and giving her a pet name made him feel closer to her. He liked to think he would have called her that as a child, had he been given the chance.

 

They moved from the car, and softly tread to the opening of the barn, where the door sat ajar. David tilted his head inside, shining his flashlight he’d removed from his belt, into the darkness. Henry pushed the door all the way open, allowing the spotlight to shine into the barn giving them a better look. They walked inside together, carefully examining everything. It wasn’t until they came upon the symbol the Wicked Witch had dug in the ground that Henry started to shake. There were footprints leading up to the edge of the circle of knots, and then it looked like someone had slid into the center. Two someones’ had, Henry noticed identical marks right next to the first. The oddest part was how those marks went from completely noticeable, even in the poor lighting, to nothingness. The marks just vanished in the center.

 

“Where in the world is Emma?” David asked, to no one in particular.

 

“Or when…” Henry added as he realized that if Emma had come out here to examine the beam of light, and that had led her to Zelena’s spell… “I don’t think you guys stopped the time spell at all.”

 

David’s eyes widened to the point they should have burst from his skull. His hands shook on the flashlight as he took in what Henry had just said.

 

“No…” David spoke to the darkness. “No!” He shouted, slamming his fist into a beam nearby.


	5. Broken Ones

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Just remember that we've all been broken once!  
> Let's love the broken ones" -Lyrics from Broken Ones by Jacquie Lee
> 
> (Chapter revised 7/6/2017. Only minor grammatical adjustments made.)

_Chapter 5_

_Broken Ones_

_Inspired by the song Broken Ones by Jacquie Lee_

* * *

 

 

Emma woke with a start, her hair in a tangled blonde nest atop her head. She wiped drool from the corner of her mouth, and squinted, trying to figure out what had caused her to wake so suddenly. Another hard knock at her door gave her the answer she’d been searching for. Groggily she shouted, “Yes?”

 

The maid who’d assisted her last night entered the room with a tray in her hands. Shutting the heavy wooden door with her foot, Ruby moved to set the tray laden with china on the table by the fireplace. The fire was nothing but embers, having died down during the night. The maid with luscious curly brown hair knelt to stoke the coals and add a log. She didn’t rise until she was satisfied that it was crackling away. She dusted her hands on her apron before spinning around to eye Emma, still sitting glassy eyed in the large plush bed.

 

“We need to get your dressed, milady, her Majesty has requested you join her for breakfast.” Ruby said while setting out tea for Emma on the table. After she had poured the tea she went to the wardrobe and retrieved a dress for Emma to wear. The dress was a deep green; it was made of silk with a soft inlay of leaves making it shimmer as it moved. Emma had never seen such fine fabric in her life. Being a bale bonds person, she had worn a few slinky cocktail dresses, but she’d never been able to afford anything as swanky as the fabric this dress was made of. For a moment Emma wondered how the wardrobe in her room managed to be filled with dresses in exactly her size, but she quickly let that fall away as she realized she was in the Enchanted Forest, where anything was possible. Emma had never found herself too enraptured by fashion, having never had a mother to instill that into her as a young girl, but even she couldn’t deny the beauty of the gown Ruby laid on the edge of the bed. It was nothing like the dress she’d worn last night. This one was soft, and rich. She moved a hand to stroke the fabric, and found it felt like water in her hands.

 

Emma took her tea quickly, making a comment to Ruby about how she much preferred coffee to tea. Ruby scrunched her nose and mumbled something under her breath, but she assured her she would try to get some for her.

 

Once Emma was dressed and her hair up in a coiffure of curls, she was led from her rooms, dress swirling about her feet with hardly a sound. The halls were dark, despite the sunshine trying to reach its fingers through the heavy tapestries that covered the windows. Emma furrowed her brow, wondering why they didn’t open them to let in the natural light and air the dank place out. She kept quite though, still trying to gauge her standing in the castle, she wasn’t entirely a prisoner as they hadn’t taken her to the dungeons, but her rooms being locked from the outside, told her, she wasn’t a normal guest either.

 

The Queen sat stoically, her curves clad in slinky deep red velvet today, when she moved it looked like her dress was dripping blood. Jewels adorned her neck, coming to a V right over her impressive décolletage.  Her features were stone, eyes heavy with kohl and lips painted to match the red of her dress. She looked like the devil, if the devil were a woman. Emma’s breath caught in her throat as she entered the breakfast room, she couldn’t deny the magnetism of the Queen. She was frightening and breath taking all at once.

 

“Sit.” The Queen instructed; waving her hand at the plush chair set to the side of table. It was the chair closest to the Queen’s place at the head of the table. Emma swallowed hard before moving as gracefully as she could to her seat. She wasn’t accustomed to wearing heavy dresses, or even skirts, she was afraid it might tangle about her legs and send her sprawling to the ground.

 

Emma’s stomach turned as she found herself staring at her food blankly. Here she was, in the Enchanted Forest, back in time, sitting with Regina, but none of it felt real. Her vision clouded and she saw Regina laying ghostly pale, with tubes running all about her body, machines beeping incessantly, as modern medicine tried to keep her alive. Suddenly her mouth was too dry and her tongue felt heavy in her mouth as she stared at the incredible contrast of the Queen sitting beside her. Her head was spinning, the room was spinning, and she blinked quickly, trying to fight off what was happening to her. Her fingers clenched, her arms felt like they were vibrating, she felt panic seize her chest. She didn’t know what to do; this was a horrible place to be having a panic attack.

 

While Emma was lost in her panic, Regina stared at her, noticing that her guest was not feeling well. Regina could read the signs; the woman was having a panic episode. Normally that would have infuriated Regina, and she would have thrown the sniveling thing from her presence, but the look of sheer agony on the girl’s face hit a note in Regina. Everything about the woman’s face felt familiar. It was a look of loss; it was the sadness of someone’s heart breaking. She’d seen the same look on her own face when she’d looked in the mirror countless times after Daniel’s death. She’d finally just covered all the mirrors in her room, tired of seeing the sadness reflected back to her. She’d felt like she’d broken into a million tiny pieces, and the only thing that had managed to raise her from that dark place was her anger. Her need for revenge had fueled her, and driven her from the brink of total annihilation.

 

Not thinking twice about her actions, Regina reached across the table and clasped her fingers in her guest’s hand. She clutched her hand to the other woman’s and just held it, until finally she felt the woman’s breathing come easier. Princess Leia’s eyes were closed, had they been open, Regina was sure she would have seen tears swimming there. She was thankful they were closed though, she didn’t do well seeing other people cry. She herself hadn’t cried in years. Emotions were weakness, and she had chosen a while ago to only allow room for one emotion in her heart, anger.

 

Emma opened her eyes, blinking fiercely to force the tears back. She became aware of warmth resting in her palm, and looked down to see an elegant hand holding her own. Shocked she looked up into the eyes of the Queen. As their eyes met she saw a flicker of something in the Queen’s eyes, something that looked purely Regina, but in an instant, it was gone and the Queen was jerking her hand back into her lap. The Queen reached her hand quickly to her goblet and took a large drink of what could only have been wine.

 

“I can see breakfast was a bad idea, I’ll have your food sent to your chambers.” The Queen said flatly, her voice giving nothing away of what she had just seen.

 

Confused, Emma stood from her chair and a servant ushered her from the room. Emma looked over her shoulder at the Queen in all her finery, the Queen stared distractedly out a window, working quite hard not to watch Emma leave. The profile etched on her regal face seemed so sad behind her mask of war paint. Out the window Emma saw several wild horses running about in a field, and then the door was slammed behind her and she saw no more.

 

* * *

 

 

In Storybrooke a brilliant morning was breaking. The sun was rising over the horizon, and the sky was fading to a clear blue. It was going to be a beautiful day. Henry glowered at it, standing outside the hospital; he kicked a cigarette butt with the tips of his shoe. His breath was pluming out in front of his face as he grumbled. He was worried sick, in a matter of two days, he had become relatively an orphan. Emma was still missing, with no trace or clue as to where she went, and Regina lay lost in limbo, trapped in a stark white room being kept alive by machines. Tears burned at his preteen eyes, and he wiped aggressively at them with the sleeve of his coat.

 

Out of the corner of his eye he saw someone approach him. An arm went around his shoulders and he caught the stink of pine needles, body odor, and whiskey. He looked up into the constantly pinched face of none other than Robin Hood. “It’s going to be okay, son.”

 

Henry shook the arm off and stepped quickly away from Robin, turning to him he tried not to shout too loudly, the last thing he wanted was to cause a scene, “Don’t call me son.” Henry growled, furious that this man his mother had entertained for a few days was taking liberties with the relationship, “My father is dead, and I certainly don’t need a replacement.”

 

Robin put his hands up in front of him, a sign of surrender, “Sorry, kid, I didn’t mean to offend you. I’m trying to deal with the state of your mother, just as much as you.”

 

“No. No you’re not. You knew her all of a few days, and suddenly you know how **I feel**!?” Henry hissed. “She is my mother, the woman who raised me, you are nothing. Go back to your merry men; your stink of forest is rubbing off on the hospital chairs.”

 

Robin honestly looked like he’d been struck, or maybe it was the diet of wild game giving him indigestion again. “Did the Evil Queen forget to teach you how to speak to your elders, boy?”

 

“Call her that again…” If Henry had magic, he was sure Robin Hood would have burst into flames at that moment.

 

But as much as Robin was fuming from his interactions with Henry, he did still have a spec of honor. Realizing he was well out line, he stepped away; it wasn’t his place to goad a grieving child. “I’m sorry, Henry, truly, I don’t know what came over me.”

 

“Just leave.” Henry whispered, his face now falling, as he stared at the rising sun. Robin slunk away and was gone before Henry found himself blinking. Tears sprung to his eyes, and he could no longer fight them away. His chest was heavy and he ran a hand through his dirty hair. He’d been spending most of his time in the hospital, holding his mother’s hand. He needed her to wake up. He needed Emma to back. He needed his mothers’; he couldn’t lose both of them.

 

* * *

 

 

Emma stood in the middle of her bed chamber, hands on her hips. She’d torn off the fancy dress she’d worn to breakfast. Ruby had found her halfway out of it and had blanched. Emma had sent her off to find her some men’s breeches and boots; she refused to put another dress on. She felt ridiculous in them, and she was blaming her panic attack at breakfast on the tight corset all the dresses in this time required.

 

Having spent a couple hours pacing her room, she’d finally started to come up with a plan. She was tired of being idle, she needed to find a way to get out of the castle; she needed to find a way back to her own time. But she knew she couldn’t do that whilst she was cooped up in this room in the Evil Queen’s castle. Not daring to make a deal with Rumpelstiltskin to get home, nor wanting to admit she needed someone’s help, Emma had an idea.

 

Regina as the Evil Queen had been fierce, brutal, and without mercy. But one thing she had in common with the Regina that Emma was familiar with, was that she was powerful. Her magic was only matched by the Dark Ones. Over the last few years, Emma had learned something though, Regina was powerful on her own, but when Emma and her combined their powers almost anything was possible. Emma’s best bet of getting home was getting the Queen to work with her. To do that though, Emma was going to need to win the Queen’s trust; something that wouldn’t be easy for Emma to achieve.

 

Dressed now in breeches, a tunic, and knee high riding boots, Emma felt confident. She felt almost like her normal self, and she was prepared to use whatever means necessary to get home to Henry. Henry needed her; she couldn’t leave him alone in the world. She wouldn’t let him lose both his mothers, she wouldn’t let him grow up without parents the way she did. Not even time would stop her from returning to her son.

 

Ruby entered the room once again. “The Queen has agreed to see you,” she said, holding out a cloak to Emma, “You’re going to want this; it looks like it might rain.”

 

Emma swung the cloak about her shoulders, pulling her long curly hair out from under it. She clasped it at the throat and then nodded to Ruby, she was ready. Ready to take on the Evil Queen. She knew now that the Evil Queen and her Regina **were** in fact the same person, the Evil Queen was part of Regina. It was a part of her that would never truly go away, and Emma was determined to understand it.

 

Regina was Emma’s only hope of being able to go home.


	6. The Sun Is Rising

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emma starts to enact her plan that will hopefully take her home.
> 
> Chapter revised on 7/9/2017. Minor adjustments made to fix grammatical errors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the comments & kudos! I apologize I'm not better at updating regularly, I am really trying to get to it more frequently. I really hope you enjoy this chapter.

_Chapter 6_

_The Sun Is Rising_

_Based on the song The Sun Is Rising by Britt Nicole_

 

* * *

 

Emma crossed the field of sweet grass, a mist swirled about her borrowed boots, and her cloak billowed out behind her. The air was still, aside from the rolling fog. Looking up at the cloud cover, she could see pieces of it breaking up; it wouldn’t be gloomy for long. Trying to put a smile on her face she approached the figure on the hilltop. Perched atop a majestic black steed, sat the Queen. A black riding coat laid across the horse’s flanks; the Queen was straddling a saddle that was so black it nearly blended into the horse. She wore no finery, aside from lace covering her brow to make it appear as if she had a crown on. Everything else was black leather, down to the gloves that clutched the midnight reigns.

 

As Emma came closer, she bowed, knowing she needed to approach the Queen appropriately. It would do her no good to offend the woman before she had a chance to act out her plan. “I wanted to apologize for this morning, your highness.” Emma spoke in a steady voice, even though looking at the Queen without all her jewels made her look more like the Regina, Emma was familiar with.

 

The Queen nodded, acknowledging Emma, “We all have our demons, Princess.” Emma cringed at the term ‘Princess,’ technically she was a Princess, but she certainly had never felt like one. How did she cope with going from orphan to princess? Sure, it was every little orphan’s dream come true, but to Emma Swan it felt like an incredible burden. Real life wasn’t supposed to work like that.

 

“I thought I could make up for breakfast with a picnic,” Emma said with a soft smile, turning her head up to the Queen. Emma was now close enough to stroke the neck of Regina’s horse, and she found it was softer than any silk beneath her palm. “She is beautiful,” Emma whispered, although she wasn’t looking at the horse when she spoke, instead she was looking up at the Queen again, meeting her chocolate brown eyes.

 

Something tingled at the corner of the Queen’s lips, perhaps a smile she wouldn’t let through, but she felt the desire to all the same. Reaching down she fondled her steed’s mane affectionately, “Her name is Odette, named after a swan I had as a child.”

 

Emma was shocked; she certainly had not known the Queen was fond of swans, let alone that she had named her horse after one. None of that had been Henry’s storybook. “You had a swan for a pet?”

 

The Queen’s face turned up, a mixture of amusement and sadness, “Not exactly, there was a lake not far from my family’s estate and there was this magnificent swan that had made it her home. Every day I would ride my horse to the lake, and sit beside the water and watch her for hours. She was beautiful, the most beautiful creature I had ever seen, aside from a horse that is. I asked my father once about her, and he told me her name was Odette.” Regina looked down at Emma, meeting the blonde’s eyes for a moment before turning away to stare at the clouds breaking overhead. Sunshine began to stream through the gaps in the clouds, making the hillside look enchanting.

 

Regina swung down from her horse, holding the reigns in her hand so she could walk beside Princess Leia. “You said something about a picnic, yet I see no basket,” The Queen quirked a brow at Emma.

 

Emma blushed, not having realized she forgot a very important item in her planning. “It seems I forgot the basket, I was anxious to catch up with you.”

 

“Well, a picnic is still a splendid idea,” The Queen smiled at Emma, the smile didn’t quite touch her eyes, but it still made Emma’s heart skip. The Queen waved her hand, purple smoke appeared and then disappeared leaving behind a large picnic basket with a folded blanket on top. Emma hadn’t even thought to try using her magic to summon a picnic, and she cursed herself for not having the finesse she needed. She would definitely do better next time, to be prepared. She was lucky the Queen was being understanding.

 

Something about the way the Queen was behaving today, the way her eyes lingered a second longer, or a smile touched her lips more often as they talked. It was different from the other night, when she had almost seemed afraid of any sort of connection. Emma had yet to get an explanation for the Queen’s disappearing act. Emma hadn’t known how badly she wanted to understand Regina’s Evil Queen side, until she’d arrived at dinner last night. This side of Regina had been such a large part of her life for so long, it only seemed right to understand it. Emma had found herself being optimistic this morning, despite the distressed state she had been in when she’d fallen asleep. Perhaps spending time with Regina in this realm would help her cope with Regina’s state in her own world. Emma was riddled with fear, fear that Regina would die before Emma could admit she loved her.

 

Emma retrieved the blanket and basket, hefting it with her strong ample arms; she walked beside the Queen as they strode towards a large apple orchard that lay adjacent to the field the Queen had been riding in. The apple trees were large and mature, towering high enough above them that Odette didn’t have to duck as they strode through.

 

They reached a spot in the center of the orchard that had a cushion of leaves and grass; Emma spread the blanket out and made room for the Queen. Regina looped Odette’s reigns around a branch nearby, making sure to leave enough slack for the horse to reach her head to the ground so she might enjoy some of the fallen apples.

 

“So, you visited this swan, Odette, every day? When you left your family home, what happened to her?” Emma asked, dusting an apple off and taking a bite.

 

Regina watched with wide eyes as Princess Leia took a bite of one of her apples, people were usually leery to eat her apples, yet here was this elfin creature eating one like it was nothing. Her eyes alight she watched the blonde chew her bite, unable to look away from the soft pink mouth that had a drop of juice on it.

 

Regina licked her own lips, trying not to think about how much she would rather be licking that juice off of her guest’s mouth. Regina shook herself, dancing away from those thoughts, “Every day, until I was eighteen and engaged to be married. My father had always told me never to mention Odette to my mother; she was a woman with a temper so I never questioned it. But the day before my wedding, when I knew I would never live in my family’s home again, I asked my mother about the swan. I asked her if we might have a lake built at my husband–to-be’s castle, and have her transferred there.”

 

The Queen’s face fell, a shadow moving across her features, Emma’s brows furrowed as she took notice of the change. Setting the apple down, she licked her lips, ridding her mouth of the juice the apple had left there. “What did she do?” Emma was familiar with Regina’s mother Cora; she’d fought against the woman and experienced the affect the woman had had on Regina. She hated to admit she had rejoiced when the woman had died, no longer being able to manipulate Regina anymore.

 

“My father was right; my mother was furious when she found out I’d been visiting the swan. I have only ever seen her that enraged a handful of times in my life. It was a silent rage, which from my mother is terrifying. She didn’t say anything to me, she just vanished in a swirl of smoke.” Regina paused, reaching into the basket to grab a bottle of wine; she popped the cork with a snap of her fingers and poured it into a glass before taking a deep drink. Swallowing hard she spoke again, “Before the wedding ceremony the next day, I snuck away, needing to escape the preparations and have a moment to myself. I rode to the lake…but when I dismounted and looked out across the water, I saw nothing. I called out to her, hoping she would glide across the water like she always had in the past, but the water was so still. Not a sound echoed through the clearing.” Regina clenched her jaw, blinking away tears that threatened to spill, even all these years later. She bit the inside of her cheek, stifling the weakness that had sprung to her eyes. “I knew then, I knew what my mother had done, and I never knew why. I shouldn’t have expected anything less; my mother’s favorite past time was destroying the things I loved.”

 

Emma reached out, taking the Queen’s gloved hand in her own, “I am so sorry, Regina.” Forgetting the formalities, Emma spoke the Queen’s given name. The Queen looked up sharply, “That’s a bit informal, Princess.”

 

The Queen tried to rip her hands away from Emma’s but Emma held them firm. She knew Regina; she knew that Cora had deeply scarred Regina. Cora had taken Regina’s first love, Daniel, and now to find out that Cora had also stolen something else precious to Regina, it tore Emma in two. Emma looked down at the hands she held, and pulled the gloves from them. Exposing Regina’s elegant and tapered fingers, she stroked them affectionately. The veins on the back of Regina’s hands stood out, and Emma found herself wanted to kiss them. She wanted to kiss each one of Regina’s fingers, kiss her palms, she wanted to kiss away all the bitter memories Cora had left behind. She wanted to heal the wounds within the Queen.

 

Before realizing she was treading dangerous water, Emma brought the Queen’s digits to her lips, lips still sticky with juice from the apple. She kissed them softly, one by one, starting with the dainty pinky and moving to the ring finger. Each one touching her lips reverently. Turning the Queen’s hand over, she kissed the palm, then the inside of the Queen’s wrist. She kissed all the exposed skin, before the sleeve of the riding coat got in the way.

 

“You are so magnificent, so fierce,” Emma whispered, looking up over the Queen’s hand she still held to meet the Queen’s honey orbs. Approaching slowly, Emma crawled closer, until she was so close she could feel a shudder move through the Queen’s body. Regina’s eyes were hooded, she watched Emma through thick lashes. Emma leaned in and took the Queen’s lips with her own, and Regina gasped, tasting the apple in their kiss. Hands reached up to cradle the Queen’s head, and bringing their kiss deeper. Emma brushed her tongue across the lower lip of the Queen’s, begging entrance. The Queen gasped again, opening to let Emma in. Emma’s tongue entered, stroking the Queen’s, before retreating and coming back for more. Their mouths intertwined, it was sweet and full of fire, it tasted of apples and desire.

 

Emma’s mouth moved across the Queen’s jaw suckling softly at her majesty’s neck. Emma loved the way she smelled, of apples and leather. She smelled like Regina, and the scent was intoxicating. She reached her hand down to grasp the Queen’s waist, drawing her majesty into her lap. She felt the Queen’s pert rump even through the layers of leather between them.

 

The Queen’s chest was tight, and the place between her legs was positively feverish. She hadn’t felt anything like this in so long; she’d almost forgotten what raw passion like this tasted like. This Princess was so peculiar; Regina couldn’t seem to figure her out. All she knew was that she wanted this woman. Quieting the fears in her head, not allowing them to take over like she did the night before. The Queen threw all her worries to the wind, she wouldn’t overthink it.

 

Regina reached between them and let the clasps of her riding coat burst open, beneath it she had a black leather corset and leather pants. The coat fell away behind her, sliding off her arms. A shiver ran across her flesh as she felt the rays of sunshine that was streaming through the leaves of the orchard hit her bared skin. Emma ran her fingers up the olive skin, softly caressing the Queen.

 

As Emma reached to touch Regina’s chest, to bring her corset open and touch her plump breasts, she felt Regina stiffen. As her skin touched Regina’s she felt the Queen’s body language change slightly, as if she was suddenly uncomfortable. Emma paused and looked down at Regina, trying to meet the older woman’s eyes. Regina refused to open her eyes though, and her breath was shallow.

 

Regina held her eyes shut tightly, it had felt so good, she had been lost in their kissing, but as Emma’s hand had moved to undo the clasps of her corset, to touch her breasts, Regina had grown cold. Stiffening at the intimate touch, no one had touched her so intimately in so long. And the last time someone had… She shook her head; she didn’t want to think about that. These feelings made her weak, and weakness meant defeat. But Emma had felt the shift, and she had stopped. Sitting back; Emma eyed the Queen before understanding crossed her face.

 

Without a word, Emma reached behind Regina and brought the Queen’s riding coat about her naked shoulders. Daring to touch the Queen’s chin to bring her face up to look at Emma, Emma spoke softly, “I will never do anything to make you uncomfortable, Regina. I promise, only when you’re ready.”

 

The Queen was taken back by Emma’s soft confession, how could this strange blonde beauty be so understanding, so breath taking, and so absolutely confusing. She seemed to know things Regina was thinking or feeling without Regina giving anything away. Regina was always so careful to guard her feelings and reactions, people were more intimidated by her cold persona than anything. But this elfin woman with green eyes resembling moss, made her drop her guard, but didn’t push past her defenses like so many others had tried.

 

Sure, she took lovers, she’d had many, but it was always on her terms, it was always controlled. She made sure to never get into a situation where things were too intimate. She couldn’t bear to be touched in certain spots. Regina shuddered at the memories that caused her so much pain, made her skin crawl. She couldn’t think about those things now, but yet, this woman seemed to know. How could she know? No one knew…

 

Emma reverently slipped Regina’s arms back into her riding coat, and leaned closer to fasten the clasps that held it closed. Once the Queen was once again dressed in her regal riding attire, Emma shifted, giving the Queen her space. She poured herself some wine, and brought out the finger sandwiches from the basket. Taking a bite, she found she couldn’t stifle the audible sound of delight that escaped her.

 

Regina watched her guest eat and drink as if they hadn’t just been about to ravish each other. Puzzled, she continued to watch the Princess, as she busied herself nibbling at a sandwich of her own, and washing it down with large sips of her wine. She found comfort in wine, it helped to soothe the nerves she’d stirred up earlier. Her feelings for the woman across from her and the feelings regarding her past had become quite overwhelming since her guest had arrived. She was losing her hold on her façade, and she wasn’t sure she liked it.

 

It wasn’t until now that Regina took in the full sight of her guest, noticing the blonde had forgone a dress and instead sported men’s breeches and a tunic. She looked positively delicious, and Regina didn’t fail to notice the way the pants hugged the woman’s athletic thighs. Desperate to distract herself from ogling the woman she spoke up, “I’m sure your _companion_ is worried sick about you, do you need to send a missive to him to assure him of your safety?”

 

With this the Queen was letting Emma know that she was in fact not a prisoner anymore, but rather, a guest. Anxiety knotted in the Queen’s chest as she imagined the Princess choosing to leave and go back to whatever kingdom she hailed from. But as she stared at the beauty beside her, she knew it was dangerous for her to stay; dangerous for both of them. She wouldn’t forgive herself if her darkness tainted the Princess. Regina was darkness and emptiness, two things that leave no room for anything else. She had known this when she started down this path, and she knew she couldn’t bear it if she ruined this girl.

 

Emma choked at the mention of Hook, forgetting for a moment that she’d told the Queen anything about him. “Oh um, yes, I suppose I should.” Although Emma had no intentions of letting Hook know anything. He had forced her through that time portal; of that much she was certain now. She didn’t want anything to do with him. She was sure he wouldn’t want to return to Storybrooke anyways. At least in the Enchanted Forest he could seek out a new ship and a new crew and return to the life of pirating that he missed so much.


	7. Dark Side

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everybody's got a dark side,  
> Can you love me?  
> Can you love mine?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all those who are leaving comments & kudos! They mean so much to me. Hope you like this update, I apologize if these slower parts are a bit hard to get through, it will start to get more exciting, I promise!
> 
> This chapter was revised on 7/9/2017. Mostly just grammatical errors corrected.

_Chapter 7_

_Dark Side_

_Inspired by the song Dark Side by Kelly Clarkson_

* * *

 

 

Regina sat in front of the vanity mirror in her bed chambers, staring at her reflection. This was one of the few mirrors in her castle that Sydney didn’t inhabit. She looked at herself, seeing the fine lines that were beginning to gather at the corners of her eyes, the signs of time passing. She touched the scar on her lip, remembering vividly how she received it.

 

_She’d been outside, running through the fields chasing the horses. Her mother had scolded her so many times she’d lost count that it was improper for a lady of her station to frolic like a common milk maid. She’d forbidden Regina from receiving riding lessons from the stable hand, and that had made Regina furious. At the age of only seven, her mother was controlling every aspect of her life. She would be Queen someday, is what her mother would always whisper to her as she brushed her long brown hair. Regina didn’t want to be Queen though, she wanted to be free. She sometimes lay in the fields, watching birds fly overhead and imagining she was one of them. If only she had wings like they did, then her mother wouldn’t be able to control her life. She was running, chasing after her father’s horses, laughing as her long hair blew carelessly in the wind behind her. She was muddy up to her knees and didn’t have a care in her mind. Her mother was away, and her father didn’t care how muddy or disheveled she got. Her cheeks pink with exertion, she’d come bounding back into the manor. She’d tracked mud through the kitchen, and was dusting herself off, when she’d heard a door slam. Instantly she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Her fists clenched at her sides, she tensed, waiting quietly. She didn’t know why her mother was back early, but her mother was the only one who slammed doors. Maybe she wouldn’t come into the kitchen, maybe she’d never know Regina had gone outside and gotten filthy._

_Eyes round as saucers, Regina couldn’t breathe, the door to the kitchen crashed open and she begged herself not to cry. Her mother would only get angrier if Regina cried. When her mother rounded the door jam and took in the site of Regina, her face darkened. A shadow crept up her neck, her lips pursed, she glowered at Regina. Regina squeaked, she knew she wasn’t getting out of this one, and her usual protector, her father, was nowhere to be seen. “You’re…you’re back early, mama.” Regina stammered, trying to still the shaking in her voice._

_“What is this? You’ve been running about like you’re no better than_ _the_ _livestock. I didn’t raise you to behave like you live in a barn.” Cora was furious and her voice was pure venom. Her eyes were storm clouds and the air in the kitchen was roiling. “You want to behave like a mule, Regina, well then my dear, you can sleep like one…” With that Cora waved her hand in Regina’s direction. Branches from a tree outside the kitchen window reached in, and wrapped themselves around Regina’s small body. The bark ripped through Regina’s clothes, leaving small cuts on her skin, she was jerked through the open window and into the yard. The branches held her so tight she could barely breathe and_ _she_ _just hung there gasping. Cora emerged from the house, her dress swirling about her ankles._ __  
  


_“You’ll sleep in the muck stall, you want to smell like dung; well then, dear, you can enjoy sleeping in it for_ _the_ _night.” Cora hissed as she waved the floating Regina into the barn. The tree branches deposited Regina harshly into one of the stalls. It was the stall in the back of the barn; it was dark, cold, and full of manure. She felt the squish of the muck beneath her, and the stench was so horrendous that it made Regina’s eyes water. Her mother didn’t offer her a lantern or a blanket; she just turned and locked the stall door behind her. Through the bars she peered at Regina, “One day you’ll thank me for_ _this, Regina, one day when you a_ _re Queen.”_

_With that she left, the branches wrapped around Regina’s body whipped away, a_ _nd as the last branch slipped away from_ _her, it swiped up and struck her lips._

Regina had always thought it was an accident that the branch had cut her lip open, surely her mother never would have marred her precious ‘Queen-To-Be.’ But as Regina touched the scar softly, she wasn’t so sure. The scar made her look fierce, it made her face look less like a naïve young woman, and more like the monarch she now was. Regina scowled at her reflection, some days she looked in the mirror and barely recognized the woman she had become. And all too often lately, when she looked in the mirror, she saw her mother looking back. She had become exactly what her mother had wanted all along…

 

She sat there for quite some time until she heard the door to her chambers, a soft knock that could only be one person. The servants, those that were permitted to disturb her, all knocked sharply and only twice. Regina found knocking incredibly annoying and had been known to toss people out the window for annoying her. “Enter.” She called out.

 

The large mahogany door opened, with some great effort from the person on the other side. “There she is, my beautiful daughter,” Henry finally squeezed himself into the room. He was hunched over and huffing and puffing from the effort of opening the door. The man was almost seventy, and he didn’t wander around the castle much anymore. “I’ve been looking for you all afternoon; the servants said you were out riding.”

 

Regina rose from her vanity stool and embraced her aging father. “Daddy, it’s so good to see you.” Regina held him close to her, hugging him a fraction longer than normal. “I was out riding for a while yes,” She told him as she moved to pour them both a glass of red wine. He tried to reach the wine before her so he could pour it for her, as a Queen should never have to pour her own drinks, but she waved him away.

 

“Do you have news?” Regina asked excitedly, she needed a distraction, she needed something to take her mind of the exquisite blonde guest that was somewhere in her castle right now. She was desperate for news regarding Snow White, she hoped by now someone would have caught the little bitch.

 

Snow White had been the cause of so much misery in Regina’s life. Regina had almost escaped her fate; she’d been preparing to run away with her love, Daniel. The little bitch couldn’t keep her lips closed, she went and told Cora of Regina’s plans. Because of Snow’s naivety, Cora had torn Daniel’s heart from his chest and crushed it in front of Regina. Remembering it used to make Regina sad; she used to cry for hours, now it filled her with a blinding rage. Her blood boiled with the memory, she’d been so close to happiness, only to have a spoiled brat destroy everything. Every bit of happiness had been torn from her by her mother, and if it hadn’t been for Snow, Regina might have escaped all of this.

 

Regina had that distant look in her eyes that her father recognized all too well, it was a mixture of fury and pain, and he had seen it all too often since Cora had forced Regina to marry King Leopold. Henry couldn’t even pretend that he hadn’t been quite happy when King Leopold had died. He was one of the few people who knew what Leopold had put his daughter through, what Cora had put her through. If Leopold hadn’t died, Henry might have killed the king himself.

 

“No word today, my dear, but I’m sure someone will find the Princess.” Henry responded after a moment. He didn’t really want to see the Princess harmed, but it pained him to see his daughter so consumed by revenge. If she could only move past her thirst for revenge, she might actually find love again. All he wanted in life was to see his daughter happy.

 

“How hard can it be to find a **princess** amongst a bunch of filthy **peasants**?” The Queen’s voice rose to a shout; her irritation made the vein in her forehead protrude. Her eyes were full of fire that would only be extinguished by the blood she desired. She wanted to feel Snow White’s perfect pure heart beating in her hand, and then watch it crumble to ashes as she crushed it.

 

She’d had people out searching for her enemy for _months_ now, and so far, nothing had turned up. She’d get whispers of Snow being in a certain village, but by the time her knights showed up the princess was long gone. The people of the kingdom were aiding and abetting Snow, and that only added fuel to Regina’s fire. She would stop at nothing until she had Snow’s heart. She would make Snow feel the pain Regina felt, she would make the darling Princess suffer, if it was the last thing she did in life.

 

* * *

 

 

Emma sat in her borrowed chambers, sitting at a writing desk, staring at a feather quill and ink. She knew off hand that you dipped the quill in the ink, she’d seen enough movies to know that’s how it was done, however the art of writing with it was something else entirely. She’d already smudged and splattered ink all over several sheets of parchment. Now she sat there glaring daggers at the stupid feather, it was daunting her with its perfect plume. The Queen had loaned her these items so she could write a letter to her ‘traveling companion’ to assure him of her safety. She knew she needed to write something, because surely the Queen would notice if she didn’t send off some sort of note. She was also struggling with what to write or to whom; she didn’t want Hook to know anything about her wellbeing. Emma ran a hand through her long blond hair, which was already quite tangled from being out in the elements all afternoon.

 

She’d really enjoyed the picnic with the Queen, she’d more than enjoyed their little lip lock too, but something was bothering her about the moment Regina had gone cold. For a moment, she had been all fire and need, and then she’d stiffened and the fire had gone out. Emma had a suspicion as to why, she’d read Henry’s storybook, she knew things about Regina’s past. The book had never been very explicit, but the more time she spent in the presence of the Queen, the more time she was able to put together the missing pieces from the book. It wasn’t just Cora killing Daniel, it wasn’t just Snow White destroying her happiness with him; it was so much more than that. Because of those things something else even more horrible had happened to Regina, something that could never be undone. Just thinking about it made Emma’s skin crawl.

 

As Emma imagined Regina going years, holding in such a huge secret, letting it add fuel to her revenge and hate, it made Emma feel ill. No one deserved that, no one deserved to be so stripped of their right to say no. It physically pained Emma; it made her want to hold Regina, tell her that it was okay and no one would ever hurt her like that again. Emma swore on her life, when she returned to her own time, she would tell Regina that she understood now. Even if Regina couldn’t hear her, she would tell her anyway. Never in her life had Emma **wanted** to be the Savior, more than now, to save Regina from herself, to save her from the pain of her past.

 

Sitting there, ink dripping from the quill she held poised over the paper, Emma jumped when she heard boots clicking on the stone floor behind her. An eerie giggle set her hairs on end; she slowly turned in her chair, praying it wasn’t who she thought it was behind her. “Gold,” Emma grumbled tight lipped.

 

“Rumpelstiltskin is my name, spinning gold and trouble is my gain,” The glittering skinned goblin cackled, offering her a low bow. “You seem to know who I am, dearie, but who…are…you…?” He asked, his voice dropping menacingly, a flourish wave of his hand till his black nailed finger pointed at her.

 

“Shouldn’t you already know who I am?” Emma asked cockily, quirking a brow at the creature before her.

 

Rumpelstiltskin glared, “Yes, quite. The real riddle I suppose, is how…you…are…here…” He twirled on his heels, waving his arms at the room they accompanied. He clearly was not pleased with her games, he was used to being the one playing games.

 

Emma smirked, it felt good having more knowledge than Mr. Gold for a change, he was always so omniscient. “I don’t see how it matters to you,” Emma remarked, setting the ink sopped quill down on the stained parchment.

 

“You. Cannot. Be. Here.” He sneered, clipping each word with his teeth.

 

“I have things under control, thank you.” Emma snapped back, not liking the menacing tone he was using. She knew The Dark One was powerful, and she could only hope he didn’t try anything. She’d become a lot more comfortable with her magic, but not enough to go up against him one on one just yet.

 

They stood there for a moment, eyes flinging daggers between their still forms, the air was thick with crackling magic, each poised and ready to attack. Emma didn’t know why she was such a huge threat to him, being back in time. She suspected it was because she was messing with the timeline. However, if he had a way to send her back to her own time, he surely would have thrown her through it already. Which solidified, even more, her need to get close to Regina; so they could use their combined magic to get her home.

 

Clearly at a loss, Rumple straightened, squaring his shoulders and straightening his leather jacket. “We are not finished, **dearie**.” He cackled before disappearing in a swirl of black smoke.

 

Emma was shaking when the smoke finally cleared. She hadn’t realized she was so nervous, but as she finally let her breath out, she felt it. She’d seen pictures of The Dark One, but she’d never realized how disgusting and terrifying he really had been. Mr. Gold was definitely a watered-down version that she much preferred, rather than the goblin like creature she’d just experience.

 

She looked about the room, looking for some sign of what she should do next. She needed to speed things up, another day was ending in the Enchanted Forest, and if time ran the same in future, she was gone yet another day. She needed to find her way home before Rumple came back for her. She could not afford to make any deals with The Dark One.

 

Quickly, Emma waved her hand at her outfit, desperate times called for desperate measures. Taking a page out of Regina’s handbook, she changed her clothes with magic. She went from her brown borrowed pants and tunic, to black leather pants, knee high riding boots and a red leather vest over a white tunic. Feeling even more herself, in quite the han solo fashion, she strode out of her room. She needed the Queen, and from the information she’d squeezed out of Ruby, she knew where to find the Queen’s personal chambers. Having been a bale bonds person for so many years, she’d grown great at tracking people, and with that came an impeccable sense of direction. She didn’t get lost as she made her way to the floor above her rooms.

 

She passed several servants and guards on her way up, all of which just looked surprised to see her but didn’t stop her. Maybe it was the look of hungry determination in her eyes, or the intimidating attire she sported. Other than the Queen, they likely never saw a woman wearing pants.

 

Emma reached the large ornate doors that marked the Queen’s personal rooms. She wasted no time, and knocked firmly.

 

 


	8. Still

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maybe it's a dream, or maybe it's a memory she was meant to forget....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit shorter than my others have been lately, but I hope you enjoy it none the less! Please let me know what you think and comment or give kudos.
> 
> (This chapter was revised on 7/9/2017. Mostly just grammatical fixes. Thanks for reading!)

_Chapter 8_

_Still_

_Inspired by the song_ _Still_ _by_ _Daughter_

 

* * *

 

**Present Day: Our World**

 

Robin Hood stood outside in the hallway looking through the window of the hospital room that held Regina Mills. Beside the bed her son sat reading to his mother’s sleeping form. He’d felt awkward being near Henry since their little altercation, but he couldn’t stay away. He felt partly responsible for Regina’s injury, like he should have protected her better. How was he to have known that the Wicked Witch would have a counter spell on her broach? No one had seen this coming, and it made him feel helpless. Behind him he heard footsteps and turned to find Mary Margaret Blanchard-Nolen, or Snow White as she was known in the Enchanted Forest, approaching him.

 

“No changes?” She asked him as she stopped to look in the window.

 

“Nay,” He grumbled gruffly, “Nothing in the slightest.”

 

“How long has he been in there reading to her?” Mary Margaret inquired with a nod of her head.

 

“He was here before I, myself, arrived.” Robin replied shrugging his wide shoulders, “I’d say most of the evening.”

 

“It’s not healthy for him to be here all the time; he needs to continue to live his life.” She spoke quietly, not looking for a response.

 

Robin Hood just grumbled, “You can’t keep a boy from his mother, either.”

 

Mary Margaret left Robin in the hallway and entered the sterile room with its wall of monitors and its tangle of tubes. The pump breathing for the woman in the bed heaved up and down as she approached the bed. She stepped around the bed to hold Regina’s fingers in her own. They were eerily still, and Mary Margaret felt her chest tighten.

 

She looked across the spans of bedsheets to the young man sitting tentatively by his mother’s side and Mary Margaret felt tears pool in her eyes. It got harder and harder to see Henry sitting there, day after day; so much hope in his eyes, when she knew this wouldn’t end well. No magic or modern medicine could save Regina now. The only thing that would save Regina now was some miracle. It tore Mary Margaret to pieces that her Grandson, the one with the heart of the Truest Believer, was going to find out that Hope didn’t always win out.

 

“Henry,” Mary Margaret finally spoke up, clearing the tears from her voice, “Henry, you need to come home and sleep. I’ll bring you back here in the morning.”

 

Henry looked up, as if he had only just noticed she was in the room with him. There were dark circles beneath his eyes, and his lids were red rimmed. She doubted he had slept much since the accident, and she knew he spent most of the time he did drift into unconsciousness, crying in his sleep. He didn’t respond, it was only the slightest nod of his head that he acknowledged what she’d said. He hated leaving her, he hated to think she was there alone, but he’d lost his will to fight when his grandparents bid him home to sleep and eat. No one quite knew the appropriate way to handle everything, but they knew they had to care for one another. With Emma missing too, the entire town had turned out to take care of Henry. They brought casseroles in droves, to the loft, and their living room was overflowing with flowers. She had a stack of well wishes on her countertop, and yet it all only reminded them of what they wished to forget.

 

There had been no other signs of Emma Swan, David had searched the barn high and low, and they couldn’t find anything. There was also no sign of Hook, and that worried Mary Margaret. She’d thought Hook a changed man, something good for Emma, but her gut was telling her he had a hand in Emma’s disappearance. It made her sick to think that her daughter might be in trouble somewhere.

 

Henry left with Mary Margaret and Robin stood motionless outside the door for moments after they were long gone. Slowly he approached the door and entered the room, easing himself into the chair by Regina’s bed. He placed his hand in hers and sat there motionless. He felt like he should be distraught, that he should be in tears, but instead he found himself feeling nothing. He was a hollow shell.

 

“Regina, I’m so sorry, I’m sorry, I wish I could wake you. I’ve kissed you a thousand times since you fell into this unnatural sleep, and you have not stirred in the slightest. True Love is supposed to be able to conquer anything, and yet I have failed…”

 

He jumped suddenly, toppling the chair behind him. “DOCTOR!” He shouted, “Doctor, Wale!”

 

Doctor Wale raced into the room, followed by one of the nurses on duty, “What is it?”

 

“Her fingers, they moved,” Robin huffed out excitedly. Had his voice reach her, was he starting to bring some life back into her? Maybe he hadn’t failed after all.

Deep in Regina’s mind though, it was not Robin’s voice that had made her stir, it was a dream. Or at least, it seemed like a dream. Maybe it was a dream. Or maybe it was a memory she was meant to forget….

 

* * *

 

 

_A knock sounded at her door and she jumped, startled by the intrusion. “Enter.” She called from the vanity where she sat. The great door to her chambers eased open; she felt the air in the room shift as someone entered. A tantalizing smell of leather and cinnamon touched her nostrils, and she smiled, gooseflesh dancing across her skin. She turned, a dazzling smile crossing her ruby red stained lips, “Princess, how lovely to see you.”_

_“My Queen, I need to talk to you about something.” The princess spoke so strangely, with an accent and a canter the Queen had never heard before. It was not formal, it did not sound like the way a princess of her realm or any surrounding realms would speak. It made the mystery surrounding the angelic blonde_ _even more_ _puzzling, and that much more alluring._

_“Tut, tut,” She waved her finger at the Princess; standing from her stool she approached the blonde. “None of that, there’s time for business later. As a matter of fact, I insist we do no talking.” The Queen was speaking brashly, wanton almost, it had her feeling giddy and light. She wasn’t sure how much wine she’d consumed after returning from their picnic, but she now felt as weightless as a feather. Her mouth was parched, and she parted her lips, touching her tongue to the lip stain there. She wanted to taste the princess; she wanted to touch the princess. She wanted the princess to touch her._

_She’d been so frustrated when the princess had stopped their touching at_ _the picnic, Regina had froze_ _, and the princess had backed off. She did not want the princess t_ _o think her weak and shy_ _. She wanted the princess to weep with the power Regina held, she wanted to feel the pri_ _ncess shatter in her hands. From the very first night, she’d felt so drawn to this woman. The princess was an anomaly and the Queen found herself aching for the blonde. She’d felt attracted to countless others in the past, but she’d always resisted, or kept it controlled and impersonal. But_ _after spending_ _more time with the woman,_ _she’d started to notice the Princess was different. No one had made Regina’s heart quicken, or her stomach flutter, in so long. No one bothered to make her laugh anymore, no one treated her the way the Princess did. She wanted to explore that, and the wine was giving her courage this evening._

_In a few quick steps, Regina was standing nose to nose with the blonde, the blonde’s breath t_ _ickling Regina’s face. “Regina_ _?” The Princess whispered questioningly._

_Regina placed her manicured finger to the blonde’s lips, “Shhhhh, I said no talking.”_

_Her finger trailed down the blonde’s neck, hooking in the ties of the tunic the blond sported. Her lips crashed against the other woman’s, leaving no room for retreat. Teeth clashed momentarily as the blonde was taken by surprise. Quickly responding, the blonde’s arms were embracing Regina, she felt them holding her closely. Her breasts were pinned uncomfortable in her corset, and her skin itched as she desperately wanted to feel skin against skin. She was tempted to use magic, and just make their clothing vanish, but as if she’d read her mind, the blonde shook her head. Pulling away from the kiss, she spun Regina around, and tugged at the laces of the Queen’s corset._

_With each tug, Regina felt like she could breathe, and she wanted to fill each of those breaths with the scent of the Princess. She felt fabric slide off her shoulders and she shivered. The Princess paused, as if considering putting a stop to things; she was so worried about overstepping. She didn’t want to move to fast, wanting Regina to be ready. In that moment, Regina had never been more ready. She wanted nothing more than what she knew the Princess could offer her. Regina turned slowly, holding her dress up with one arm, the other arm she ran down the Princess’ sleeve. “No stopping this time, Princess.”_

_Eyes wide, the Princess watched as Regina dropped her arm, letting her gown and garments fall away. She stood there in nothing but her boots, her olive skin being kissed by the setting sun that streamed through the windows. The Princess looked as if she couldn’t breathe. Gasping, she moved in like a hungry animal, she lifted Regina up by her buttocks, clutching a cheek in each hand. She carried the Queen to the vanity stool and sat her on it. Kneeling before her, the blonde ran her hands over Regina. Slowly, the Princess appreciated each ounce of exposed skin. Regina’s eyes were heavy with arousal, and she nearly purred with the appreciation in the Princess’ eyes. Soft kisses rained down on her shoulders and collar bone, moving lower until a taught nipple was drawn into the blonde’s hot wet mouth. Regina gasped, throwing her head back as she shivered with pleasure. The blonde’s tongue enthralled her, twirling around the peak of her nipple until she thought she’d go mad. Cold air had her nipple straining so hard it almost hurt; Regina opened her eyes to see the blonde blowing softly on the nipple with a wicked grin on her lips. Regina thrust her hands into the blonde’s curls, loving the soft weight of all her hair. Her hands moved south, falling to the blonde’s shoulders, she felt the soft fabric of the blonde’s vest and tunic, and with a primeval growl, the Queen tore them down the middle. Tattered cloth fell open, exposing the Princess’ milky breasts. Regina smiled, seeing the blonde had forgone a corset. “You are unlike anything I’ve ever encountered, Princess.”_

_This time the blonde placed a finger to the Queen’s lips, “Shhhh, no talking.” Blonde curls brushed the insides of Regina’s thighs as the blonde dipped her head between Regina’s legs. Regina shook with anticipation, but nothing prepared her for the next kiss; the kiss that awoke her sex, as if it had been under a sleeping curse. She felt herself grow moist, heat spreading through her body, she felt as if her skin was on fire. A molten tongue licked her slit, slowly at first, and then faster. The blonde’s tongue parted her slick folds with its tip before swirling around her nub. Regina squirmed, the blonde driving her closer to the edge with each stroke. A slender hand inched its way up Regina’s thigh, finding itself between the chair and Regina’s sex. Regina arched her back, bringing herself to the edge of the chair. One of the Princess’ fingers entered her, thrusting into her with ease. She moaned, so sure she was close to breaking. “More,” Regina cried._

_The blonde smiled against Regina’s pussy, licking and sucking, parting and swirling. She thrust in another finger, pumping them achingly slow, but as the Queen cried out for even more, the Princess inserted yet another finger and suckled at Regina’s clit._

_Regina’s body exploded, the air crackled, her eyes though closed, were blinded by white light. The veins in her neck thrust outward, her head thrown back as her body quaked. She clutched a hand in the Princess’ hair so hard, it probably hurt. But the blonde didn’t stop, she continued, riding the Queen’s orgasm until it could give no more._

_With a wide smile on her moist lips, the blonde raised her head from between the Queen’s legs. The Queen sat forward, grabbing the blonde’s face, and sucking her own moisture from the other woman’s lips. “You should always taste of me, it’s delightful on you.” The Queen whispered, stroking the blonde’s hair out of her face._

* * *

 

“Emma,” The words were hoarse, a garbling around the breathing tube. But they were unmistakable. Robin Hood’s heart stopped, surely he hadn’t heard right. Shouldn’t she be saying his name? Shouldn’t he be the one she would call to?

 

“What’s happening doctor?” Robin shouted at Doctor Wale.

 

“It appears as if she might be dreaming,” Doctor Wale responded, eyeing the monitors with wonder. “Her levels are simply amazing, it’s as if whatever she’s dreaming about is bringing her back.” Doctor Wale looked back to Robin, grinning from ear to ear, “There is hope for her yet, I hope where ever the Savior is, that she hurries home.”

 

Robin stood in the room; long after Doctor Wale had gone, looking as if he’d been slapped. Regina was dreaming of Emma? But **he** was her Soul Mate, she was supposed to dream of **him**. He was supposed to be able to kiss her and wake her. Everything they knew about Soul Mates and True Love’s kiss told them that **he** should be able to save her.

 

Desperation gripping his heart he strode towards the bed, he kissed her temples, he kissed her nose, he kissed everything he could without pushing the breathing tube out of the way. Nothing…

 

Robin sat back in the hospital chair and brought a hand over his face. He choked, **“Pixie dust won’t save her.”**


	9. It Don't Matter to the Sun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (This chapter was recently revised! 7/10/2017 Mostly just to fix grammatical errors.)

_Chapter 9_

_It Don’t Matter to the Sun_

_Inspired by the song It Don’t Matter to the Sun by Rosie Thomas_

* * *

 

**The Enchanted Forest: A Long Time Ago**

Emma held Regina in her arms, skin touching skin, olive sliding against milk. It was slow and sensual, each inch of them sensitive and burning with the energy passing between them. Emma kissed Regina’s shoulder, and ran a lazy hand over the brunette’s flat stomach. She swirled her pointer around the Queen’s navel before lazily playing with the dark curls gathered at her apex. Regina purred beneath the gentle touch, and a soft smile touched Emma’s lips. She didn’t know how long they had touched and appreciated each other, but they both now lay in the Queen’s large four poster bed, draped in dark silks. Emma was sore, and tingling, she hadn’t felt like this in so long. Their kisses and touching had transcended her to a complete bliss filled state. For a brief moment, she forgot all about the accident, the coma, and the heartache waiting for her back home. It warmed her through to see the softer side of the Queen. To see that even when Regina had been at her darkest, she was still soft on the inside. She was still the woman Emma knew in present day, it was just harder to find that soft side beneath all the anger and the cold façade.

 

Regina shifted beneath Emma, and gazed with heavy lids at the beautiful blonde in her bed. Wild curls cascaded over toned shoulders and arms, falling to cover the pink nipples protruding hard from her breasts. Regina licked her lips, taking in the sight of the Princess. Her gaze fell lower, taking in every inch of the woman, under her adoring scrutiny. The candle light made it warm and made them both appear as if drenched in honey. Shadows deepened, and Regina continued, memorizing every curve of the woman beside her.

 

Reaching a regal hand, she touched lightly the blonde’s stomach, tracing lines that were barely visible in the dim light. “Will you tell me about these?” Regina asked softly, looking up to meet green orbs.

 

Emma’s cheeks flushed, and she turned her head to hide her face with her hair. Swallowing hard, she blinked, trying and failing to keep herself from crying. The bliss she’d been feeling moments before, crashing away, as reality set in. This was not the time to lose it; she couldn’t break down here, not like this. She suddenly felt too exposed. She clutched the silk sheet to herself, and rolled off the bed, taking the sheet with her. Wrapped around herself, she dragged the sheet to the window where she stood silhouetted in the moonlight.

 

Quiet footsteps approached from behind and slender arms wrapped around her middle. A warm face pressed to her back, breath brushing across her back, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked.”

 

It was strange to hear the Queen apologizing to her. She had never imagined the Queen as the apologizing type, but she had witness the sensitive side of the Queen more than once tonight. “No, it’s okay.” Emma choked out, trying to steady her voice, even as her chin quivered. “We…” Emma stopped herself, bile rising in her throat as she caught herself, “I have a son.” She was speaking to Regina, about _their_ son, but Regina didn’t know him yet. Emma’s chest grew painfully tight, and she struggled to breathe. She hadn’t thought about Regina seeing her scars, the scars every mother gets after her body is stretched from bearing a child. She hadn’t planned for this moment, to explain to the other mother of her son, about their son. She couldn’t give too much away; she knew that, because Regina would meet him some day. Years from now, Regina would be the one to care for him, to swaddle him and sing him to sleep. To sooth his fears and calm his fevers. Things Emma had never been able to do, because she’d wanted to give Henry his best chance. The woman behind her had no idea the joys she would experience in the years to come, she was so angry and sad now, but she would have a splendid little boy one day that would bring the brightest rays of hope into the Queen’s life.

 

An unwarranted sob escaped Emma’s lips. She was overcome by her emotions, feeling stripped away. She was stuck back in time, enjoying the touch of the woman she loved, but who didn’t yet know her. While the Regina she wanted lay dying, and her son was there without either of his mothers to help him through it all. She felt as if she was spinning, lost in a void of misery. What if she couldn’t get home? What if she never saw Henry again? What if she changed the past too much and Henry was never born? Here she was, softening the Evil Queen, loving for the woman who would force her parents to put her in a wardrobe. A thought suddenly overwhelmed the blonde, what if Regina never cast the curse? Rumpelstiltskin had been right; she couldn’t stay in this time any longer. Who knew what she had altered already. She had to get home. She had to get back to Henry. She wouldn’t let him lose both his mothers.

 

“Princess?” The Queen asked softly, moving to stand in front of Emma. “Did you lose him?”

 

Emma couldn’t bring herself to speak; too much was just on the tip of her tongue. She nodded her head, tears escaped from her eyes, and tumbled down her cheeks. The Queen brushed Emma’s cheek, dusting the wetness off with her fingers. “I’m so sorry, Leia.”

 

Hearing the false name falling from Regina’s lips broke her, she bit her cheek to keep from crying out. This wasn’t real, none of this was real. She needed to go home. She needed to get back to her own time. She needed to accept that Regina was dying, she needed to go back and help her son grieve for his mother.

 

Emma angrily brushed at her face, running a hand through her hair, she cleared her throat. “I can’t stay here.”

 

Regina stepped back, a shadow falling across her face, “What do you mean?”

 

Looking up and meeting the Queen’s dark eyes, Emma blanched, “No, not like that. I mean, I can’t stay **here** , I don’t belong in this realm.”

 

Taken aback by the blonde’s comment, Regina’s brow furrowed. She had thought the Princess sounded odd, but she’d never begun to imagine she might not be from this realm. Was she from Wonderland? No…She’d been there before, and she’d never heard of a Princess Leia; unless the blonde had lied to her and was using a false name…

 

“Your name isn’t Leia, is it?” Regina’s voice deepened, suddenly dripping with distrust. She had let this woman touch her, let this woman into her heart…how had she been so naïve? So stupid as to not notice the lies right in front of her.

 

Emma’s face was contorted, as if she was in pain; and she was, her heart was being torn in a million directions. She didn’t want to leave; she didn’t want to leave the blissful bubble she had here. But she needed to touch the Regina in her own time, she needed to hold her son’s hand as they bid the woman they both loved goodbye.

 

“No…it’s not Leia.” Emma began. Mulling over in her head what she should do.

 

“What. Do you. Think. You’re. Doing!?” An impish voice intruded out of nowhere. Clouded in darkness, and emanating a menacing aura, emerged none other than, Rumpelstiltskin.

 

“I told you I did not want your interference.” Emma hissed, clutching the silken sheet closer to her naked body. The Queen, brazen in her nakedness, placed hands on her hips and squared her regal shoulders. Seconds later she was dressed, clad in black leather and velvet. A cloak of black and red feathers trailing behind her, and she growled at the Dark One, “What right have you, to barge in on my private chambers?”

 

The imp clapped his hands together, giggling, “Well this is interesting. Someone finally broke the Evil Queen’s shell. Fascinating.”

 

“Get out of my castle,” Regina shouted at him, throwing her arm out towards the door.

 

“Oh, I will dearie, but I’ll be taking this little, Swan, with me when I go.” He snorted, still sporting an amused look on his face.

 

“The hell you are,” Emma snapped, crossing her arms over her chest.

 

“I’m afraid there is no choice in the matter, dearie. I told you, you cannot be here. You’re ruining everything.” He replied, waving a hand in the air.

 

Regina watched the exchange with curiosity, not entirely sure what it was these two were arguing about. “No one is going to remove, Princess Leia from my chambers, but me.” Regina ordered sternly. She glowered at Rumpelstiltskin and Emma alike.

 

Rumpelstiltskin giggled again, rolling his eyes, “Princess Leia, is it?” A snicker fell from his lips. “No matter, time to go, **Princess** ,” He said the letting the last part stick on his tongue as he pressed the word to his teeth.

 

A flick of his fingers and all that was left of the Princess and himself was a laugh that echoed through Regina’s chambers. Regina stared at the spot where the blonde had just stood, and screeched, “RUMPELSTILTSKIN!”

 

* * *

 

 

“What the hell?” Emma shouted as she appeared in a dark castle room. The ceilings soared above her, and each wall was lined from top to bottom with shelves. Each shelf was overflowing with objects and scrolls. It was dusty and smelled as if nothing ever entered or left this room. “Where are we?”

 

Rumpelstiltskin just giggled gleefully at Emma’s confusion, “I told you, dearie, you don’t belong in this time. Lucky for you, I have your ticket home.” Outstretching his hand with a flourish, he held out a slender black stick.

 

“I don’t want your, Camp Dark One, talking stick,” Emma huffed.

 

“Don’t you know a magic wand when you see one,” Rumpelstiltskin asked irritated.

 

“To be honest, I prefer hand magic.”

 

Rumpelstiltskin just stared at her, as if he was trying to understand the joke. Emma rolled her eyes. She didn’t have time for this. Queen Regina was likely freaking out right now; Emma hadn’t had the chance to explain things. She didn’t want to make any deals with Rumpelstiltskin to get home. She knew all she needed was Regina’s help. Their combined magic could transcend any realm.

 

“I’m not making a deal with you to get home.” Emma said, still clutching the silken bedsheet to her naked body. Realizing it was stupid for her to be so indecent, when she could just magically dresser herself; she felt like smacking herself for being so slow. She waved her hand, and quickly found herself clad in skinny jeans & her favorite red leather jacket.

 

“He he, oh I’m not making a deal with you, dearie, your sweet boyfriend already did that for you.” Rumpelstiltskin looked far too pleased with himself as a door opened nearby and none other than Killian Jones, Hook stepped into the room. “You might ask why I’m not killing my nemesis, and instead allowing him to escort you home.”

 

Emma stared, placing her hands on her hips, “I could give a rat’s ass, what the answer to that is.”

 

“She doesn’t seem very grateful, now does she?” Rumpel turned and spoke to Hook, mockery on his face.

 

“Emma!” Hook gasped excitedly when he took sight of her. He ran to her and embraced her in a suffocating hug, “I had worried the Evil Queen had tortured you, or worse. I’m relieved to see you unharmed.”

 

Emma shoved Hook away from her, “I was in no need of rescue. And I don’t care what deal you made with Gold, I want no part in it.”

 

Shocked, Hook stepped back, he grabbed her hand and spoke softly, “I love you Emma; you’re the only thing that keeps me from falling back to my dark ways. I see that now more than ever. I’ve done nothing more than exchange my services for a way home.”

 

Emma eyed him, tilting her head as she went over in her head, what could Hook have possibly done that would be enough for Rumpelstiltskin to give them a way home. “What did you do?” Emma asked angrily.

 

“Only what I asked of him, of course.” Rumpelstiltskin chimed in with a clap of his hands.

 

“We weren’t meant to fall back in time, Emma, you have to understand that. And any time you spent with the Evil Queen jeopardizes the future…” Hook spoke to Emma as if she was a child. “I merely snuck into the castle and left a gift for the Evil Queen.”

 

“A gift? What kind of gift could Gold have possibly wanted you to give Regina?” Emma asked haughtily.

 

“The Forget Me Not flower is a very interesting plant; its petals are often used to determine if someone loves you. What many people don’t know is that the leaves, if consumed, are a very powerful forgetting serum.” Rumpel spoke as if he was reciting something from a text book, it sounded rehearsed and it grated against Emma’s nerves.

 

“You’re going to take away her memories?” Emma’s jaw tightened, she hated the thought of someone tampering with Regina’s mind, “Her memories of what exactly?”

 

“Why, dearie, her memories of you of course.” Rumpelstiltskin laughed, “I can’t have her stomping around with memories of you when she has a very important curse to enact for me, now can I?”

 

Emma lunged at Rumpel, she wanted nothing more in that moment than to strangle the imp. She’d broken through Regina’s hard shell; she’d touched her in ways the woman hadn’t allowed anyone to touch her in forever. And he was going to take that from her, he was going to make her forget. He was going to make sure that she was as Evil as ever, all so she would cast his curse.

 

“You’re a monster!” Emma shouted at him, arms wrapped around her body held her from attacking him.

 

“Be sure you make her hold up the other end of our bargain,” Rumpel told Hook, before he vanished from the room in a cloud of black smoke.

 

Emma screamed, wrenching herself away from Hook. “I can’t believe you,” Emma punched him, “First you shove me through the portal, in some hopes I’ll need your rescue. Then you make a deal with the devil to rescue me, when I didn’t need your help.”

 

“Swan, my love, I only wanted to protect you. I didn’t want to see you hurt.” He spoke softly, reaching for her.

 

“You’re full of shit!” Emma yelled, smacking his outstretched hand away. “I’ve never wanted your advances, but at every turn you just refuse to give up. No means **no**.”

 

Hands in her hair, Emma crouched on the ground; she didn’t know what to do now. She doubted Rumpel would let them out of this room, but she couldn’t very well accept Hook’s help.

 

“Take the wand love,” Hook said a bit too sharply, holding out the wand Rumpel had left.

 

“Damn you all to hell,” Emma growled, snatching the wand from Hook’s one good hand. She’d needed a ticket home, and now she had one. The debt was already paid, as much as the thought of Regina losing her memories of their time together tore Emma part. Her and the Queen hadn’t exactly parted on the best note as it was. Emma knew in her heart, that the Queen needed to cast the curse, so that Emma could be sure to go home to her family. But knowing the Queen would forget everything, forget opening up to her, and return to being cold and angry…it broke something in Emma.

 

 _Now what?_ She thought as she held the black stick in her hand. The wand was beautiful really, threads of silver made swirling designs, and they shimmered in the dark room. She could feel the power in the object; it was so intense she almost wanted to throw the thing across the room. It made gooseflesh creep up her arm, and she clenched her teeth to keep from dropping it. _Well here goes nothing…_ Emma took a deep breath, drawing up as much courage as she could muster, and waved the wand like she’d seen the wizards in the Harry Potter movies do. All the while imagining in her mind, that she was really going home.

 

Light filled the room, blinding her, throwing an arm across her eyes, she peered out at the source of the light. A giant portal had opened across the room.

 

“Now let’s just hope this takes me home, and not somewhere else in time…” Emma spoke out loud to herself.

 

* * *

 

 

Regina sat on the sofa chair by her roaring fire; her eyes were wild as she tried to process everything that had happened that day. Everything had gone from perfect, to pieces, in a blink of an eye. She’d finally opened herself to someone, only to find out she’d been foolish, the bitch had been lying to her the entire time. How had she been so blind?

 

Growling, she gnashed her teeth and threw her glass across the room, watching it shatter on the wall and sending wine spilling down the stone like it was blood. From the far side of her room a gentle old voice spoke, “I’m sure she’ll be back to explain everything, my dear.” Her father hobbled over, hunching in his old age, in one hand he held a fresh glass of wine. “Nothing is ever as it seems,” He rested a comforting hand gently on his daughter’s shoulder. “Oh! Someone left you a gift today, a lovely bottle of wine.”

 

Distracted, Regina suddenly looked up wildly, “It’s likely poisoned.”

 

“Fret not, my dear, I already tested it,” He smiled kindly at his daughter. Even in her darkest moods, he still found it in his heart to love her unconditionally. “It will calm your nerves.”

 

“I’m sorry, daddy, I don’t mean to take my anger out around you. I know it stresses your heart.” Regina offered a slight tilt of her lips to him, as much of a smile as she could muster, at the moment. She took the outstretched glass from him, “You really are too kind to me.”

 

“You are my daughter, and I could never treat you with anything other than love you deserve.”

 

Regina nodded and took a long drink of the wine in her cup…


	10. Into the Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emma returns to her own time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for everyone who has left kudos or comments on my story so far. I read and appreciate each and every one. <3 (This chapter was revised on 7/11/2017)

_Chapter 10_

_Into the Fire_

_Inspired by the song Into the Fire by Erin McCarley_

* * *

 

Emma struggled to draw breath into her lungs as her chest slammed into hard dirt ground. She blinked fiercely, startled tears forced themselves from the corners of her green eyes. She waited, unmoving, for the spots in her vision to clear. All while the last few days ran through her head like a time loop. Were they really home, and in their own time? Or had the portal thrust them into some other random time. A part of her wanted to run home and embrace Henry, kiss his sweet adolescent head, but the other part of her felt like a swirling black pit. She’d had Regina, she’d held her, she’d seen the worst and the best parts of her, and she’d only loved her more for all of it. That Regina had been so vivid, and it pained Emma to imagine the washed out and fading Regina in the hospital.

 

“Well that was a rather unpleasant landing, eh love?” An equally winded voice came from beside Emma, reminding her that she had not come back through the portal alone.

 

Emma clenched her jaw and found her hands balled into fists. She pushed herself off the ground slowly, taking it easy on her bruised ribs. Her teeth gnashed, as she tried to keep back the angry bile that rose in her throat.

 

“Did I not tell you, I would get us home? And here we are, back in our quiet little town.” He stood beside her, a lopsided smirk on his lips. His eyes glistened with self-pride, and it made Emma’s stomach turn.

 

That black pit inside her, swirled and snarled. She felt the blood rushing to her face, and she knew she could no longer hold back her anger. “Typical… Even after everything, after every hint, after every blatant NO, you still can’t help but stick your hook where it isn’t wanted.”

 

Hook held up his hand and hook in a sign of defense, his face a mockery of everything Emma was feeling. “Hey now, love, I was merely being the gallant gent, I am.”

 

“Gallant!?” Emma burst, manic laughter filling the barn. “I don’t need a knight in shining armor. I had my situation under control before you felt the need to make a deal with the devil.”

 

“I can’t even imagine what might have happened had I not acted when I did. From the looks of things, the Evil Queen had _you_ right where she wanted you…”

 

“You know nothing!” Emma screamed. The electricity in the air sizzled, their hair standing on end. Outside a lone lamp post exploded.

 

“I know that it wasn’t your fault, she seduced you with magic. It’s okay to be angry, she took advantage of you. But you can heal Emma, you don’t have to pretend with me.” He spoke softly, as if he might have been trying to sooth a baby. Emma’s brows furrowed as she soaked in what he was saying. He honestly thought Emma had been tricked? Or worse, forced into the Queen’s bed?

 

“Oh, dear Gods, I think I’ll be sick…” Emma grabbed her abdomen and stumbled away. She needed to get as far from this psycho as possible. He couldn’t possibly be referring to her time with the Queen as… No, she wouldn’t even think it.

 

“Emma, love, we can work past this. We’re home now, everything she did to you is behind us.” His words slid over her nerves like slime. “I worried I wouldn’t be able to save you, that she might have killed you before I could rescue you.” His boots crushed the dirt beneath them, leaving a crunch each time he stepped. He had approached her, Emma had her eyes squeezed tightly shut, willing him to just stop talking.

 

“Whatever magic she used on you, must still have some hold left on you,” He spoke under his breath, she didn’t think that he was even speaking to her anymore. With her eyes closed she didn’t see it coming, she didn’t have time to stop it. Suddenly his hand gripped her waist, his hook resting against her cheek, cold and hard. It made her cringe. She opened her eyes as his mouth came crashing down on hers. She screamed, pushing him away. “Oh, don’t be like that love, I rescued you…” He came at her again, his hook nearly scratching her throat as she slammed his mouth against hers again, forcing his tongue into her mouth.

 

Emma was beyond mad, she was furious. She bit his tongue, tasting blood in her mouth as he pulled away with a cry. “How dare you, you, sick fuck!” Emma shouted at him right before she sent her fist flying, connected with the side of his skull. Between her anger and the momentum of her swing, Hook hit the ground. He looked up at her, blood streaming from his mouth, “You’ll regret that, wench.”

 

“Frankly, unless you want to end up in a jail cell for harassment and assault, I seriously suggest you stay the fuck away from me and my family.” Emma straightened her shoulders and looked him squarely in the eyes, “And if you ever force yourself on me again, I’ll put a bullet through your face instead of my fist.”

 

* * *

 

Emma didn’t know how long she wandered in the dark after she stormed away from Hook. She’d left him bleeding and bruised in the dirt outside the barn. Her lips were raw, as she’d been wiping her mouth repeatedly with her shirt. She spat in the grass beside the road, she couldn’t wait to brush her teeth and get the taste of him out of her mouth. She’d never been so disgusted in her life. She felt furious and violated. She’d had unwanted advances from men before, being a bale bonds person for years had put her in several uncomfortable situations, but she’d never felt so violated or raw before. It was likely a culmination of everything she’d been dealing with. She felt dirty and exhausted, and her feet ached as if they might fall off.

 

A tear slipped from her face as she collapsed beside the road, she wanted to go home. Too tired to go on, Emma pulled her knees to her chest and rested her chin on them. “I should have learned to do the magic poofing thing.”

 

Emma stared into the night, willing someone to come by, surely someone lived out here somewhere? Her eyes were drooping, exhaustion setting in and begging her body to sleep. Just as she felt herself drifting, light shone on the horizon. Delirious and confused, Emma wondered if it was dawn already, but the light grew brighter, and closer. It was about a mile away still, but Emma suddenly sprung up from the ground.

 

“Headlights! Headlights!” She jumped up and down, waving her arms. Suddenly filled with enough energy to flag the driver down. She cried, smiling, hoping it was someone she knew.

 

The headlamps grew closer at a grueling pace, when they finally caught sight of her they stopped, tires skidding on the dirt road. A person sprung out of the driver’s side, “Emma?” David Nolan’s voice came to her through the darkness. She shielded her eyes, barely able to make him out through the grueling glare of the headlights. “Dad!” Emma cried.

 

He wrapped her in a tight embrace, shaking in disbelief. He’d been coming out here almost every night at the same time, hoping by some miracle his daughter would reappear at the barn. “Emma, you’re safe. Oh, thank goodness.” He was sobbing, tears soaking her hair as she held her close.

 

“Take me home, please.”

 

* * *

 

Emma slept the whole way back into town, David continually looking over at her in the passenger seat as he drove. He wasn’t sure if he was checking to make sure she was still okay, or checking to make sure she was still there. He gripped the wheel with intensity, and willed them home with everything he had. When he parked outside the apartment they all shared, he regretted to wake her. But he knew she would be anxious to get inside and see Henry.

 

Mary Margaret must have been standing vigil at the window, because she came bounding down the stairs as they entered the small flat. “Emma, oh my sweet daughter.” She crushed Emma against her. She was sobbing, a blubbering mess of snot and tears. David smiled at them before he rushed up to the room Henry was sleeping in.

 

Henry hadn’t been sleeping, what with Regina being in a coma, and Emma missing. His body, finally so overcome with physical and mental exhaustion, had finally demanded sleep only a few short hours before Emma’s arrival. It took some coaxing to wake him, but David persisted, knowing the boy would never forgive him if he let him sleep. When he finally opened his eyes, and registered that David was trying to rouse him, he sprung upright. “Is there news!?” He cried, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. “My mother, have the doctors said anything?”

 

“No Henry, this isn’t about Regina…” David’s eyes grew sad as he thought about his poor grandson’s comatose mother.

 

Before David could tell Henry, Emma eased the door open and stepped into the room. “Hey kid.” She said softly, a smile of relief on her lips. She fell onto his bed, embracing him tightly.

 

“Mom!” He wrapped his arms around his mother as if she might evaporate if he let go. Everyone was crying, but it was Henry who finally spoke, “What happened to you? Where were you?”

 

“Zelena’s time spell, it worked… I was sucked back in time and I struggled to find a way home.” She left it short and vague. She didn’t want to talk about it in detail, nor did she have the energy at that moment.

 

“You look exhausted, get some sleep and we can talk more in the morning.” David told Emma, tucking some of her hair behind her ear. “We’re so glad you’re back safely.”

 

* * *

 

Emma laid there in her bed for what felt like hours, listening to Henry breathe softly in the bed not far from hers. She sighed, as tired as she was, her mind wouldn’t stop to let her sleep. She couldn’t stop thinking about Regina, but not the Regina in the hospital down the road, she couldn’t stop thinking of her in the Enchanted forest. She had been powerful, confident, and full of life. Her chest ached with longing as she remembered the taste of her Queen’s skin and the smell of her hair. She could weep, but her eyes were dry. She’d shed so many tears it felt as if she was completely empty.

 

“Mom?” A voice whispered through the dark room, “You awake?”

 

“You can’t sleep either, kid?”

 

“Nah.” He said, he threw off his blankets and tip toed across the room, climbing onto her bed. The bed rocked slightly with his weight, reminding her how big her son was getting. He’d sprouted up in the last year, puberty catching up with him. She wished he would stay little, he was turning into a man too quickly. She’d only known him as a child for a short time, and that pained her. “Where did you go? What happened to you? You seem different…Sad, but not the same sad as you were when you left.”

 

He whispered, keeping the words close, so that no one would overhear from downstairs. For which Emma was grateful, because she doubted her parents were sleeping either. She wasn’t ready to share with everyone what she had been through. She wasn’t even sure how much of it she could share with Henry. She was still so confused about how she felt towards the whole ordeal. All she knew was, she’d thought she’d loved Regina before she’d left, and now she loved the woman so much she wasn’t sure she’d survive Regina’s passing. That void that was building where the blossoming love should be was painful and dark, and it was consuming Emma from the inside out.

 

She swallowed hard, the silence in the room was thick as she tried to clear her head enough to sooth her son’s concerns. She sat up slowly, and licked her lips. Her lips were cracked and dry, she was suddenly so thirsty, and her tongue was thick in her mouth. “I went to the Enchanted Forest, sometime long ago. It was before Regina cast her curse, it might have even been before my parents met. It was really hard to figure out exactly when in time I was.”

 

Henry nodded in the darkness, taking in what his mother was telling him. “Did you meet her there? Mom, as the Evil Queen?” Henry’s eyes were saucers, even in the darkness Emma could see he was anxious to know Emma’s impression of Regina back then. Everyone was usually scared or angry with Regina as the Evil Queen, but the softening of Emma’s features told Henry a different story.

 

“I did meet her, kid,” Emma whispered, looking away to hide the agony on her face.

 

“What happened? What did she do?” Henry’s voice cracked, taking a higher pitch with his anxiousness. Emma smiled, hearing the lilt in his voice, his voice was deepening as he grew into a young man. 

 

 _What did she do?_ The words stung, they bounced around her skull like a racket ball. Every time it made contact, it left a little wound. Tears welled in her eyes that she quickly blinked away. “Let’s not focus on what happened then, the most important thing is that I’m back now.” Emma ruffled his hair, “Now climb back in that bed, and try and get some sleep.”

 

She tucked him back under his blankets as if he was still small, and not turning into a teenager. Normally he would have protested, but he was just glad to have her back. For a while there, he’d thought he was going to lose them both, and that thought was unbearable. He closed his eyes a bit easier, and was asleep in moments. Emma sighed, taking comfort from the form of her sleeping son in his bed. The thought of not making it back home to him…She couldn’t even put that feeling into words.

 

Emma tip toed down the stairs, find the loft lit only by a lone lamp in the sitting area. Her infant brother Neal was sound asleep in his bassinet, but her parents were very much awake. Both sat at on the small sofa, her mother cuddling a cup of tea. “Couldn’t sleep either?”

 

“We thought you were gone…” Mary Margaret burst out. She tried to keep her voice down, so she didn’t wake the baby, but emotions would get the best of her. Her eyes were red rimmed, she hadn’t stopped bursting into tears since the moment she found out Emma was gone. She’d lost her daughter once, losing her a second time had hurt beyond compare. They had only just gotten her back, and she couldn’t imagine going on without her.

 

“Trust me, it was never my intention to get sucked into that time portal.” Emma sighed, pouring hot water from the kettle on the stove into a mug.

 

“Did Hook come back with you? Is he okay?” David asked, resting his hand on Mary Margaret’s knee to comfort her.

 

Emma grumbled under her breath, remembering all too well that Hook came back with her. “Yes, he’s fine…a little bruised, but he’ll live.” David quirked a brow at that, but let it go for now.

 

“Where did you go, Emma?” Mary Margaret sobbed, “We were worried sick. What took you so long to get home?”

 

Emma met her father’s eyes, a pleading look in her green eyes. She couldn’t talk about all this right now. She’d been through too much, and was still processing all of it. She didn’t know how to explain it to anyone, she wasn’t sure she wanted to explain it to anyone.

 

“I’m sure there will be plenty of time for her to tell us about her adventure, my love.” David spoke lovingly to his wife, wiping the tears from her face with his thumb. “Why don’t you go lay down, you’re exhausted from being up all last night with Neal.” David helped her up, and led her to the bed on the other side of the curtained area of the loft.

 

He came back moments later, Emma was sitting at the counter in the kitchen staring into her cocoa. She looked lost, and a little broken. “Are you going to ask me about Regina?” He asked her quietly, taking the bar stool next to her.

 

“I was debating whether I want to know the answer, or not.” Emma responded, her voice dripping with melancholy.

 

"Well they called us yesterday, apparently, Robin was there talking to her, and she spoke. Doctor Whale said the brain response was amazing, that it gives us hope that she might just wake up.” David watched Emma carefully, noticing the slight tick in her jaw when he said Robins name.

 

“Let me guess, she spoke out his name, and they’ll have a fairytale ending.” She sounded bitter, how could she not sound bitter? Robin left a burning in her chest, and had her fists tingling like she needed to punch something. Jealousy was an ugly thing, and Emma was too raw to push it down. Her fist clenched around the mug too tightly, and the ceramic protested with a crack. Her father’s hand covered hers, easing her fingers away from the mug. “You’re going to break your mother’s favorite mug.”

 

“Sorry…” Emma lurched her hand back, tucking her long hair behind her ears.

 

“It wasn’t Robin’s name.”d David told her, a twitch of a smile tugging at his lips.

 

“What did she say then?” Emma asked, not sure why it made her so happy that it hadn’t been Robin’s name.”

 

“No one knows, apparently, Robin said he couldn’t make out what she’d said because of the breathing tube. But the fact that her brain was responsive enough for her to attempt forming a word is amazing. According to Doctor Whale, her levels indicated she might have been dreaming when it happened.”

 

Emma’s face fell, she didn’t know why she had hoped it would be her name. She shouldn’t have even let her brain stray in that direction. She should be happy that Regina’s brain was being responsive at all. Before she’d gone back in time, they’d told her that Regina was likely nothing but a vegetable. She was hopeful though, and that scared her. Hope was a dangerous thing, because if hope was wrong, it had the possibility to destroy entire worlds.

 

“Did you hear me, Emma?” David asked, shaking her elbow, “There’s a chance she might wake up.”

 

Emma stared off into space, barely hearing what her father was saying. If Regina woke up, Emma would get a second chance to tell her how she feels…

 

She jumped up, glancing at the clock on the wall, “I’ve gotta go…” She saw her keys resting in the bowl by the door, and smiled. Someone had brought her car home. “Now? Emma it’s 1:00 in the morning, have you even eaten recently?” David asked incredulously.

 

“I’m just going to the hospital, I’ll be back in a few.” David looked at her knowingly, reaching out to hold his daughter’s hand, “I know you’re anxious to see her, but maybe you should wait until visiting hours, you and Henry can go together. You look like you haven’t slept in days.”

 

“Do you really think they are going to turn away the former Sheriff?” Emma mocked, squeezing her dad’s hand. “I’ll be back first thing when Henry wakes up, and I’ll take him to see her.”

 

"Go then... Just don't go playing any disappearing acts this time. I don't think your mother could handle it." He was only half joking, concern shimmering in his eyes. He let her hand fall, and smiled a soft smile, “We love you, Emma.”

 

“Don’t wait up, I promise, I’ll come home this time.” Emma responded, embracing him fiercely. “You guys are everything to me.”

 

It wasn’t an ‘I love you too,’ but Emma wasn’t the best at admitting her feelings. She was working up to it though, she’d wasted too much time hiding from her feelings. When she’d thought for a moment she had lost her chance to tell anyone how she felt, she had felt more lost than when she’d spent years in foster care. Emma Swan was turning over a new leaf, and the first thing she needed to do was go tell Regina how she felt, even if she couldn’t hear her.


	11. Hello

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hello, can you hear me?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, I’m aware it’s been ages since I updated this story. I’m afraid real life got in the way. But I never gave up on this story, I’ve always known how it would go on and how it would end. I hope you enjoy this chapter and the rest to come. I can’t promise how many more of them there will be. (This chapter was revised on 7/11/2017)

_ _

_Chapter 11_

_Hello_

_Inspired by the song Hello by Adele_

 

* * *

 

Emma stood outside the hospital, her fists clenched at her sides. “Don’t chicken out now, Swan.” She spoke into the brisk night air. Thoughts raced through her head, she imagined every gentle touch she’d shared with the Queen back in the Enchanted Forest; how it had only solidified her feelings for the Regina here, the one laying in the hospital bed inside. So many people looked at Regina with distrust or disdain because of her days as the Evil Queen. But Emma knew better, she knew that Regina’s days as Queen were what she had been molded to do. Deep down, the Queen had been soft. Her anger and icy façade, even her cruelty, is something she learned. Something she found useful to hide her hurt behind. Emma had gotten the chance to see past that, to see the Regina underneath. The Regina here, the one laying in the hospital room, she was amazing. Even with all she’d been through, and all she’d done…Just thinking about how hard she worked to change in the last few years, it left Emma breathless. Regina had really blossomed into her own person. She’d torn aside the person Gold and her mother had wanted her to be, and become force of good, someone worthy of wielding Light Magic.

 

Emma squared her shoulders and took a deep breath, “It’s now, or never…” She strode with confidence through those sliding doors, she hastened past the front desk, leaving a flustered desk clerk in her wake. “Miss Swan, visiting hours…” The clerk’s pleas fell on deaf ears.

 

The room was dark save for the lights from the machines, and a soft glow from the light across the room. It was enough light for the nurses and doctor to check on the monitors. Emma’s chest felt heavy again, as she entered the room. The smell of the hospital finally assaulted her nostrils and she gasped. Unbidden, tears sprang to her eyes.

 

“Oh, Regina…” Emma whispered, finally taking that seat next to the bed. No longer scared of the intimacy, she grabbed Regina’s hand. Emma bowed her head over the limp hand and let her tears loose. She didn’t know how long she sat there, clutching the hand of the woman she loved, and willing things to be different.

 

Emma wasn’t sure how much time passed, but she woke with her face still wet, and her hands cramping from resting on them, all while never letting go of Regina’s hand. Emma let slip one hand so she could brush the tears from her face. She sniffled, and cleared her throat, “I don’t know if you can hear me, Regina, but I want to tell you a story.”

 

A sad smile grazed Emma’s lips as she brought the memory to a fore front. _“You told me a story once, a long time ago. You had been out riding that morning, and I caught up with you to have a picnic. Sitting under your apple trees, you told me the story about how you named your horse, Odette. Once upon a time… as a young woman you had fallen in love with a beautiful Swan. You found this Swan on a lake within your family’s property, your father told you her name was Odette. She was graceful, and every time you approached the water she would glide out across it towards you. You used to go there every day and sit by the water, you’d speak to the Swan for hours. You told her things you didn’t tell anyone else. You spoke to her about your difficult relationship with your mother, and your horror of having to marry an old King. All while she floated lazy circles. She never flew away, she always stayed and listened. When you turned 18 and were engaged to be married. Even though your father had told you not to, you approached your mother to ask her if you might have the King build a lake for Odette, and have her transferred to your new kingdom. Your mother was furious, you’d seen your mother angry before, but never like that. The next day before your wedding ceremony you snuck away and rode to see Odette, only to find the lake empty… When you told me this story, I could see how devastating that memory was for you. You had never shared that with anyone before. Yet you chose to share it with me that day.”_

Emma took a deep breath, she hadn’t rehearsed this; she hadn’t planned what she would say. The words were just pouring from her lips. She licked her lips, and continued, her words unbidden, “ _When you told me this story, you didn’t know; you didn’t know that another Swan was sitting right beside you. I wanted to tell you then, I wanted to tell you who I was. It tore me into pieces to lie to you. I don’t know what happened to Odette, but I have a feeling that where ever Odette is now, that she drew me to you. When Henry thought, he was bringing me back here, to return the happy endings, what he was really doing was bringing me **home.** When my memories were returned to me in New York, the first person I thought of was **you**. I’m sorry it took me so long, I know you’re with someone, I know you don’t want me, but I can’t keep this to myself anymore, Regina. I’ve never needed someone so much in my life. When you’re not around, it’s like the oxygen is missing, and I can’t breathe. You’re like the stars in the night sky, without you I’m nothing but an endless pit of darkness. I can’t live in a world that doesn’t have you in it. Even if you don’t choose me, I can’t go on without you near me. Henry needs you, I need you… You can’t leave us like this…”_

She didn't notice the time passing, she was too lost in her emotions. She ached for the touch she’d felt in the Enchanted forest, but that felt so far away now. She had been furious at Rumpel when he told her his plan to erase the Queen’s memories, what she hadn’t considered, at the time, is how much it would hurt being the only one who remembered.

 

She rubbed small circles with her thumb on Regina’s hand, feeling the brunette’s soft skin. She’d touched these hands so recently, felt these hands touch her. She lifted Regina’s hand, pressing the brunette’s fingers to her cheek. “I wonder how different things might have been, had you not forgotten me.” Emma brought Regina’s hand to her lips, letting it linger near but didn’t let them touch. Regina was in love with someone else, she didn’t want Emma intimately kissing her. She shouldn’t even be here pouring out her heart like this.

 

Emma wasn’t sure when she’d started crying again, but her cheeks were streaming. She’d done more crying in the last few weeks than she had in—well, longer than she could remember. Growing up in the foster system she’d done a great deal of crying. But at some point, she’d stopped caring, started facing reality. No one had wanted her then. But her she was now, surrounded by people that loved her, and begging the woman she loved to fight for her life.

 

“I’m sorry, Regina, I’m sorry that I’m too little, too late…” Emma spoke softly. She didn’t notice the sun had risen while she’d been speaking to Regina. She didn’t notice the figure lurking in the hallway eyeing her with uncertainty. All she could focus on was Regina, and how desperately she didn’t want to ever say goodbye.

 

Emma reached a tentative hand up, and stroked Regina’s hair from her face. The usually glossy locks were dull and faded, and the tubes obscured the brunette’s beautiful features. But Emma still saw her, she still saw how beautiful she was. She stroked a finger softly over Regina’s lip scar, remembering too clearly how it had felt to press her lips to that very spot. “Things should have been different.” Emma whispered through more tears. She leaned forward from the chair, she hadn’t moved from in hours, and spoke next to Regina’s ear, “I love you, Regina Mills, and I need you to wake up.” Emma kissed her then, on her forehead above all the tubes, just below the bandages. She pressed her lips to the brunette’s skin and let everything she was feeling flow through that kiss. All her feelings of being unable to go on, without the woman in the hospital bed, poured out of her. She felt filled with loss, filled with desperation, but most of all she felt filled with love. Her love for the woman she could never have, the love for their little dysfunctional family, and the love that she imagined they might have had… It quickened Emma’s breathing and made sparks seem to shoot from her skin. She felt her lips contact with Regina’s head and the room became too bright; she gasped.

 

* * *

 

 

Emma opened her eyes and found herself on the floor across from the hospital bed. She touched a hand to her sensitive head, she must have gotten knocked out somehow. Blinking fiercely, she looked up at the bed. Disbelief struck her like a speeding train, Regina’s eyes were open, and Doctor Whale was bustling around her. Shining a light in her eyes, asking her questions. They were preparing to remove the breathing tube; Doctor Whale was spouting about miracles and how unbelieve this was. Emma shook her head, what was going on. Emma moved to stand and stumbled. A nurse caught her arm and helped her to the loveseat by the window. It was only then that Emma noticed Robin Hood, standing at Regina’s bedside holding her hand… He was speaking to her excitedly and telling her how remarkable it was that she was awake.

 

“We’re going to have to do several tests, to test her brain functionality, but it truly is miraculous that she’s awake.” Doctor Whale spoke to Robin.

 

No one seemed to notice Emma. Emma eyed Robin, he kept brushing Regina’s hair back, squeezing her hand and kissing it. He had tears in his eyes, but everything about his demeanor made Emma sick to her stomach.Emma touched her head again, feeling a lump where she had smacked it. What on earth had happened?

 

 

Regina was sitting up when Emma returned to stand outside the door. Robin hadn’t left Regina’s side, and Emma hadn’t dared intrude. She stood outside the door trying not to eavesdrop as Robin told Regina about her miraculous recovery.

 

“I was in here, speaking to you, my love, like I have been for weeks now. I was torn into pieces without you. I could hardly eat, I couldn’t sleep…I was beside myself. I don’t know why I didn’t think to do it earlier, but tonight I felt this undying urge to kiss you. I placed a kiss upon your brow, and the next thing I knew, you were opening your eyes.” All his words were lies, Emma felt the anger coiling in her breast. He hadn’t been talking to her all night, he hadn’t been there when she opened her eyes; Emma had done all that. Had he been watching her the whole time? Had Regina really woken up after Emma had kissed her? So much anger and questions swirled through Emma’s mind. Emma turned to walk away, she need air. But right before she turned, green eyes locked with chocolate orbs. Regina held Emma’s gaze for a moment too long. A million feelings ripped through Emma, had Regina heard anything she’d said?

 

* * *

 

Emma stepped outside the hospital, letting her skin soak in the morning light. Her skin was hot, and she removed her jacket to let the fresh air wash over her with a shiver. She was roiling with emotions. But most of all she knew she had a phone call to make.

 

“Hey kid, tell David he needs to drive you to the hospital, there’s good news waiting for you.” Emma choked, a giddiness filling her without permission. As much as she didn’t know how things would go from here, one thing she was certain, Henry’s mother was awake.

 

David wasted no time in getting Henry to the hospital. One of the perks of it being such a small town, it didn’t take long to get anywhere. Henry bounded out of the truck before it had even come to a complete stop. “She’s awake, isn’t she!” Henry shouted as he ran past Emma into the hospital. Emma was fast on his heels, following him down the long hallway until they reach Regina’s room. Robin Hood was still at her bedside. They had been in deep conversation, but they broke apart when Regina spotted Henry.

 

Her voice was hoarse as she greeted her son. Tears sprang to her eyes as Henry threw himself across his mother’s bed. “They said it would take a miracle. They said it wasn’t possible, but I knew you’d come back, mom. I never doubted you.” Henry rambled, garbled as he buried his face into his mother’s neck. Emma wiped her eyes, still standing in the hallway. She couldn’t bring herself to step into the room.

 

Robin Hood seemed to recognize his chance to take a short break, he kissed Regina softly on the lips before he left to fetch himself some coffee. He left Regina to spend some, much needed, time with her son. Emma remained in the hallway, watching her son rejoice in the return of his other mother.

 

“True loves kiss worked, Robin Hood woke you up,” Henry continued to babble. Regina nodded, looking out of the room through the window, into the hallway. Emma tried to look away in time, she wasn’t trying to lurk, but Regina caught her eyes again. They locked eyes and Regina smiled softly.

 

* * *

 

 

Emma had left the hospital in a flurry. She wanted to give Henry time to rejoice in his mother’s recovery. But what she didn’t want to admit, is that she was running from the possibility that Regina _knew_. Something in her eyes, something about the way she held Emma’s gaze a little too long. Did she _know_? Could she finally see through Robin’s façade of ‘honor’? Emma shook her head, dashing those thoughts from her brain. “Don’t be so stupid Swan, she was unconscious, there’s no way she knows. Just let her live in her happiness. She’s happy with Robin, let them be…The last thing you need to be is a home wrecker.” Emma chided herself, grumbling the entire way back to the loft in her car.

 

She hopped out of the car and slammed the door a bit too hard. Her poor yellow Volkswagen shuddered in protest. She took the stairs two at a time, just wasn’t sure if she had come _home_ to seek solace, or to find her mother. When the door swung open before she’d even had a chance to reach for the knob, the answer wrapped her in a tight hug.

 

“How is she?” Mary Margaret pulled back, looking for answers in Emma’s face.

 

“She’s awake, and responding well to Doctor Whale’s tests. They say it’s…” Emma stumbled over her words, “They say it’s a miracle.” Emma choked, blinking harshly to keep herself from coming to tears. _Quit sobbing, Swan, she’s awake, that’s what you wanted…_

Mary Margaret wrapped Emma in another hug, “Oh, that’s such good news!”

 

Emma was tugged inside the cozy loft and a steaming cup of cocoa was thrust under her nose, along with a heaping plate of breakfast. “You look dreadful, Emma, please eat something.” Mary Margaret searched her daughters face, taking in the details. “You were there all night?” She saw the red rimmed eyes, the dark circles beneath them, and the drooping of her shoulders. She should have looked happy, she should have looked relieved, she should have… But she didn’t.

 

“Uh yeah, she must have woken up when I left the room for some coffee…” Emma’s words felt like saw dust in her mouth. The details of what happened after she kissed Regina were fuzzy. She didn’t want to ruin Regina’s happiness, she didn’t want to confuse the situation by telling the truth and making Robin into the liar he was. She would not be the one to destroy Robin and Regina’s relationship; that just wasn’t fair. Emma’s stomach turned at the thought of Robin being dishonest with Regina, but she couldn’t meddle. She wouldn’t let another Charming ruin Regina’s love life.

 

Mary Margaret wanted to push for more details, she didn’t for a moment believe what Emma was telling her. Emma’s body language spoke volumes more than her words though, so she sipped her tea and let her daughter eat. Emma had seemed so different after returning from the past, she’d had a little light of Hope in her that hadn’t been there when she vanished. Mary Margaret wasn’t daft, she’d seen the way Emma reacted when Regina hit that beam, and she’d seen the look of complete anguish on her daughter’s face when they’d loaded Regina into the ambulance. Mary Margaret knew a broken heart when she saw one. “You want to tell me what happened in the Enchanted Forest?”

 

It was a guess, a guess she knew was correct when Emma looked up at her, startled. Emma’s face fell, if Mary Margaret hadn’t thought her daughter could look any more torn up, she’d been wrong. “I met someone…” Emma spoke softly, almost too soft to hear.

 

“Who did you meet?” Mary Margaret prodded, leaning on the counter so she could hear Emma better.

 

“I met the most terrifying, fierce and evil person…” Emma looked away, looking anywhere but at her mother.

 

“You met, Regina?” Mary Margaret shouldn’t have been shocked, but she was. She had no idea what time in the Enchanted Forest, Emma had fallen into. “Oh Emma, did she hurt you?” Mary Margaret reached for Emma’s hand, Emma didn’t have the will to pull away. The comforting touch of her mother felt nice as she recalled her time in the past.

 

“She was frightening and beautiful.” Emma stopped, clearing her throat, “She took me to her castle, I thought I was done for.”

 

Mary Margaret’s voice was heavy, as she prodded again, “Emma, honey, did she _hurt_ you?”

 

Emma finally looked at her mother, Snow White, the Evil Queen’s advisory. The little girl who had ruined Regina’s happiness. The little girl who had been unable to keep a secret, and that secret cost Regina’s true love his life. “No, no, she didn’t hurt me…”

 

“She was angry and disconnected, but she wasn’t mean. She didn’t throw me in her dungeon though, she gave me a guest room. I wasn’t free to come and go, not at first, but she sent me servants and clothes to wear, and she had me eat with her for every meal. She was everything I was expecting, and everything I wasn’t expecting.” Emma paused, taking a sip of her cocoa to calm her nerves. “She wasn’t just _evil_ like she led everyone to believe, beneath it all I found the Regina _we know_ in there. She was guarded and distant, but she was gentle too; she shouldering a world of hurt.” Emma shuddered, thinking back to the realization she’d had while in the Enchanted Forest. Emma was quite certain Regina’s marriage to King Leopold had been absuive. And Emma had a hunch that, that had only fueled Regina’s hate for Snow White back then. Leopold had loved his daughter, doted on her endlessly, all whilst…Emma couldn’t form the thoughts in her mind. It was too much, she dared not give those demons form. She’d never tell Mary Margaret those things, her mother had loved her father, it wouldn’t be fair to taint her image of him… There are some things, a daughter just doesn’t need to know…

 

Mary Margaret handed her daughter a tissue, “Oh, Emma, you love her.” It wasn’t a question, Mary Margaret had suspected all along, but now she was certain.

 

Emma’s lips pursed, “It was perfect, but I had to come back, and the Regina here doesn’t want me…” Emma’s voice cracked and she hiccupped.

 

“How did Regina wake up, Emma?’ Mary Margaret asked firmly, sure she already knew the answer.

 

Emma looked away again, she couldn’t meet her mother’s eyes and tell this lie again. Her mouth was dry, her tongue felt thick. She didn’t even know for sure if it _had_ been her. “True love woke her…Robin, woke her.”

 

“Emma, you’re always telling us about your super power, about how you can tell when someone is lying…Now I don’t have your super power. But I do know, that you were with Regina all night, and I know there is no way you ‘left for coffee,’ and came back to her miraculous recovery.” Mary Margaret was shooting into the wind, but as the words left her mouth Emma’s reaction confirmed it.

 

“You need to go back, Emma, you need to tell her…” Mary Margaret stood up abruptly, snatching Emma’s cocoa and tossing it into the sink with a clatter. In the next room baby Neal began squalling. “You have to talk to her, you can’t let her believe it was someone else. Emma,” Her mother rounded the counter, put her hands on both of Emma’s shoulders, and looked her square in the eyes, “True love is magic, and it’s worth fighting for.”

 

“This isn’t a fairy tale, Mom,” Emma pulled away, running a hand through her tangle locks, “This is reality and the reality is that she loves, Robin.”

 

“You would let the woman you love, be deceived, be led to believe that the man she is with woke her from her death sleep? Let her live a lie? How are you any better than him if you let him get away with this?” Emma’s mother’s voice was stern, her shoulders squared. In that moment, Emma saw herself in her mother. How many times had she squared her shoulders like that, how many times had she given someone else that similar speech. _Its time you followed your own advice, Swan._


	12. Alive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise! Another update in a very short amount of time. I really felt like Chapter 11 and Chapter 12 could have been written together, but I felt the need to break them up. I hope you all enjoy the direction this story is taken, and please let me know what you think. I truly cannot tell you in enough words how much it means to me when you take the time to leave a review. XoXo (This chapter was revised on 7/11/2017)

_Chapter 12_

_Alive_

_Inspired by the song Alive by Sia_

* * *

Regina’s chest heaved with exhaustion. Considering she’d been sleeping for the last several weeks, she couldn’t believe how tired she was. Doctor Whale and his team of nurses came in every hour on the hour to conduct more tests. They tested her ability to speak, her response to light, they showed her pictures and asked her what she could tell them about it all. It was a whirlwind. All she could think about was her own bed and how she couldn’t wait to change into her own clothes. The hospital gown she wore was scratchy and uncomfortable. Her limbs and back ached, she couldn’t wait for them to clear her to get out of bed and move around.

The hands on the clock struck the hour, Doctor Whale rushed into the room, several nurses behind him. “Alright, Madame Mayor, we’re going to check and change your head dressing. We need to monitor your wound closely to avoid any sort of infection. I’m sorry to say but any sort of showering will be off limits until we can remove the staples.”

 

Regina grumbled but sat up and patiently waited for them to address her head wound. Considering what they had told her about the extensive damage her head had taken, she was surprised she didn’t feel anything. They might have been giving her some heavy pain medicine through the IV in her arm though, so she chalked her lack of pain up to that.

 

Doctor Whale stepped to the head of the bed and began to unwrap the bandages on her head. As each layer was removed he handed the old gauze to the nurse behind him. As each layer was unraveled she felt an immense pressure being released from her skull. A hiss escaped her lips as they reached the last layer and she felt the bandage tug at her hair. “Remarkable…” Doctor Whale spoke, handing the last of the bandage to the nurse. “Miss Mills, it’s become apparent, that we won’t need to redress your wound.”

 

“What? Will I need further surgery? Do I have a bald spot? I cannot have a bald spot, I’m a Queen—en, Mayor!” Regina’s voice was panicked. She could not imagine living with a patch of hair missing from her head. She was much too refined for that.

 

“No, Madame Mayor, it seems that along with your rather unexpected waking, your head wound is gone…” He replied, his voice colored with about as much disbelief as she felt.

 

“It’s gone? I don’t have a bald spot?” Regina asked him with serious concern.

 

“I’ve never seen anything like this, Madame, not only is your wound healed, but the staples we put in place to keep the wound closed are gone as well. And I can assure you, there is no bald spot.” He laughed gently. He had seen a lot of crazy things since finding himself a Doctor in Storybrooke. Having a coma patient wake up out of the blue had happened once before. But that patient had not suffered a head wound of this magnitude. Being a doctor wasn’t easy, and having to deliver grave news never got easier. The chance that Regina might have woken up was so slight that he had checked her chart under ‘ _highly unlikely’_. This was a town full of magic, but it was still the real world, where science was science. They were not back in their own realms. This was a realm where sometimes magic and even modern medicine was not enough.

 

But magic had been enough, magic could be the only answer to all these questions. Regina Mills was alive because of magic unlike any other. The last time he had witnessed magic of this grandeur, it had been Henry Mills on the hospital bed. Dying under the weight of a sleeping curse intended for an adult, he had been witness to Emma Swan kissing her son back to life.

 

Emma Swan…Hadn’t she been here when the excitement of Regina’s waking happened? He thought he remembered seeing her in the room.

_"_ Mom! They removed your bandages!” Henry bounced into the room, a bundle of flowers in his arms. He deposited the flowers on the table beside her hospital bed and jumped up to sit next to her. He tilted her head to look at the back of her head where her wound should have been. A giant grin plastered on his face, “It’s gone! You’re healed.”

 

“It would seem that way,” Regina smiled softly at her ever-optimistic son.

“I’m sure Doctor Whale will realize you’re all healed soon, and you can come home. I’ve missed you mom.” Henry hugged his mother for the millionth time since she’d woken from her coma. “When Ma disappeared too, I got so scared. I just couldn’t lose you both.”

 

“Emma disappeared? Disappeared where?” Regina’s voice raised with concern.

 

“She hasn’t really spoken much about it…She fell into Zelena’s time spell and ended up somewhere in the past.” Henry looked away, Emma had told him she had met Regina as the Evil Queen, but he didn’t feel like it was his place to tell his mother that. That’s something Emma should be the one to tell Regina. Regina was still sensitive about her days as the Evil Queen; she had done some horrible things.

 

Henry was lost in thought, so he didn’t notice as Regina too, stumbled into her own thoughts.

 

_Blonde hair flowed over olive skin, a soft mouth kissed down a toned stomach. A giggle escaped the Queen as she watched the angel descend on her._

“Mom, I said would you like me to go home and get you some of your own clothes? I can have Grandpa take me,” Henry had to repeat himself before he brought Regina back from her daydream.

 

“Yes, thank you, Henry. That would be delightful.” Regina hugged him once more before he ran off to call David. She would be happy to have some of her own clothes to rest in. She was used to sleeping in soft silk, and the starchy gown chafing her skin was anything, but silk.

* * *

 

Emma paced the hallway just short of Regina’s room. She ripped a hand through her hair, tugging at the knots. She wiped her face, how long had it been since she’d brushed her teeth. She was in a panic, Regina was awake; she couldn’t go talk to her like this. Emma rushed past a nurse nearly knocking her over in her wake. She pushed her way into a hall bathroom, and found herself clutching the sink.  _Get it together, Swan, it’s not like your about to go tell the woman you love that it was you that woke her from her death sleep._  Emma slammed her hands down on the porcelain, the sink creaked in protest beneath her palms. She splashed cold water on her face, scrubbing away the salt of too many tears. Her eyes were still a little swollen from all her crying in the last 24 hours. She ran her fingers through her hair a few times, gently getting out what knots she could. She really could use a shower, but there would be time for that later.

 

Emma left the bathroom, brushing some hair behind her ear as she rounded the corner that led to Regina’s hallway. As she turned the corner she saw Henry and her father on their way out. “Hey kid, where you off to?”

 

“Grandpa and I are going to Mom’s house to get her some clothes and necessities. So she’ll be a little more comfortable,” Henry responded with a giant grin.

 

“Sounds like something your mom would appreciate, buddy, I’ll see you in a little bit then?” Henry ran to Emma then, crushing her in a hug. She still was growing accustomed to his increased height.

 

She watched them disappear down the hallway before she tip-toed back towards Regina’s room. She bit the inside of her cheek, praying Robin would be off somewhere else. Maybe he was taking a long walk off a short pier, and would save them all a whole lot of trouble.

When Emma reached Regina’s room, she paused just out of view of the window that looked into the room. She steadied herself, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly.  _Don’t chicken out now, Swan._  The space from where she stood, to where the window looked into the room seemed to grow in size by the second. What was once only a step away, now seemed miles away now. Emma blinked hard and took that last step into view. She steeled herself, and looked into the room. Regina was looking in the other direction. Taking in the view of the city from her room’s open window. Emma heaved a sigh of relief in scanning the room and seeing no Robin Hood. Hopefully he would take his sweet time returning.

 

* * *

 

Startled, looking up from her daydreaming to find Emma Swan standing awkwardly in the doorway to her room. “Emma.” Emma’s name fell from the brunette’s lips like a prayer. She smiled softly, her eyes turning up slightly, a sparkle lighting her face.

 

“Hey,” Emma replied awkwardly. Something about this situation felt so similar to Emma’s first night in Storybrooke. Only it couldn’t have been more different, Regina and Emma didn’t hate each other anymore. They worked together to solve the roughest of the town’s problems, and they were taking turns raising their son.

 

Emma moved into the room, trying not to look at Regina for too long, how had she planned this in her head? If she just blurted it out she was likely to sound like a liar. She didn’t want to come off sounding jealous. She was fidgety and didn’t know what to do with her hands. The entire time Regina just eyed her curiously, “Just when I thought this room couldn’t feel any smaller, your pacing is killing me, Miss Swan…”

 

“Erm, ya, sorry…” Emma cleared her throat, thrusting her hands in her back pockets. “So, Henry went to get you some stuff from your house.”

 

“Did you drive all the way back over here to make small talk, dear?” Regina quirked a brow. Even without a trace of makeup she still beautiful, and had the most amazing eyebrow game.  _Don’t let her distract you, Swan._

 

“No…” Emma finally responded after a moment of dead silence.

 

“It seems I missed quite a bit while I was in a…” Regina paused, not wanting to use the word coma, “Deep sleep.” Regina eyed Emma further, hoping Emma would give her something to work with. “Henry mentioned that Zelena’s time spell ended up working even after all our effort.”

 

“Oh, he did? Uh, yeah, I kind of fell into it.” Emma stumbled across her words, knowing she was stepping on a slippery slope. She was still standing awkwardly across the room, and Regina’s gaze told her she noticed all of it.

 

“Only you, would manage to simply  _fall_  into a magical anomaly.” Regina said sarcastically, a slight laugh in her tone. If Regina could say anything about Emma Swan, she would say that the blonde never ceased to amuse her.

 

“So, what happened, where did you go? Or better yet,  _when_?”

 

“Well it took me to the Enchanted Forest, because that’s likely where Zelena had planned for it to go. As for,  _when,_  I never quite figured out the specifics.” Emma looked away again, feeling that all too familiar tightening in her chest as she remembered her time in the Enchanted Forest. All the mixed emotions she had felt there, her uncertainty at getting home, her heart break at Regina being in a coma, and the love for the Regina she’d gotten to know while back in time.

 

Regina noticed the change in Emma’s demeanor, noticed the shifting across the blonde’s face. Something about her back to Regina, the silhouetted shape of her in front of the window had Regina falling into another day dream.

 

_“Will you tell me about these?” She meant the scar on the blonde’s stomach, the faint lines of stretching. Regina had been no stranger to a woman’s body and she knew the signs of child bearing. She traced one of the lines with a finger, speaking softly to the woman in her arms. But the woman got up swiftly, taking the sheet with her. She’d strode to the window, silhouetted in the moonlight she’d looked so pained, so torn apart. Regina walked to the woman, wrapping her arms tightly about the blonde’s middle. “I’m sorry…”_

“Regina,” Emma was sitting on the edge of her bed now, a hand on her arm, “Regina, are you okay? Hello?” Emma’s tone was panicked, “Do I need to get Doctor Whale?”

 

Regina shook her head, “No, I’m sorry, I’ve been doing that a lot lately.”

 

“Is it your head? Is it a side effect of the blow? I should get Doctor Whale…” Emma moved to stand, to rush out of the room for the doctor. Regina’s fingers wrapped around the blonde’s wrist. Olive skin contrasted against milk. Electricity traveled between them, the touch between them was white hot. Regina met Emma’s wide eyes, mouth slack. Emma didn’t know what to do, she only knew she was worried, but she couldn’t move. She didn’t want to move, something about Regina’s touch…

 

“I’m fine, really, I’ve just been having a lot of déjà vu lately.” Regina reassured Emma, rubbing her thumb in a slow circle on the blonde’s arm.

 

"Oh." Emma could barely respond, she couldn't take her eyes off Regina's hand and the thumb that was drawing circles on her skin.

 

“Tell me,” Regina whispered.

 

Emma met Regina’s eyes, shocked, “Uhm, uh, tell you what?” Emma’s breathing felt constricted,  _She knows._

 

“Tell me about the Enchanted Forest, tell me how you managed to get home. I can only imagine it wasn’t easy.” Regina responded removing her hand from Emma’s arm.

 

“Oh, yeah, that.” Emma cleared her throat, tucking a wayward bit of hair behind her ear again. “The Enchanted Forest was beautiful, not nearly as terrifying this time. Although the panic to get home was just as bad.”

 

“Did you run into anyone,  _special_?” Regina rolled the last word off her tongue as she eyed Emma.

 

Emma jumped from the bed, her discomfort quite obvious. She really should have rehearsed this, she should have planned out how she would talk to Regina about all this. But in her moment of confidence, she’d forgotten the most important part—Regina and Robin were destined for each other. Fate had been written for them, they were  _meant_  to be together. Emma felt like such a fool. Here she was holding onto her brief time in the past, when she needed to face reality.

 

“I’m sorry, you’re probably exhausted. I should let you get some rest.” Emma spoke quickly as she began backing out of the room.

 

“Emma, wait.” Regina reached out, as if to pull her back with an invisible force. “Will you stay? Please.” Her eyes were pleading, and she held out her hand, beckoning Emma to come back and take it. Emma hesitated, she didn’t know what to make of this. “I supposed I could stay for a little while.”

 

Regina smiled, a real smile, it lit her entire face. Emma felt her chest grow warm, she took Regina’s hand in hers and felt that electricity as their skin connected. Emma moved to take the seat next to Regina’s bed, but Regina stopped her. “You look as tired as I feel, dear, this bed is big enough for two. I just don’t want to be alone right now. Will you rest with me?”

 

Emma’s mouth was dry as Regina patted the space next to her in the bed. The hospital bed was larger than most, there was room for two people. That is if those two people were two slender women laying on their sides.

 

Emma only nodded, sliding off her boots and sliding onto the bed next to Regina. She lay facing Regina, their faces nearly nose to nose. Regina smiled once more, “It’s good to be back.” Emma nodded, nestling into the pillow.

 

* * *

 

That’s how he found them. He’d gone to take a shower and have a meal at Granny’s. He’d assured her he’d be back in an hour or so. She’d kissed him sweetly and bid him goodbye. What he had never expected, was to return to his soul mate, and find her cuddled in the hospital bed with the  _Savior_  beside her…


	13. Monster Lead Me Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise again! Another update in a short amount of time. Hope you enjoy it. Please let me know what you think, I love hearing from y'all. :)  
> (This chapter was revised on 7/12/2017)

_Chapter 13_

_Monster Lead Me Home_

Inspired the song Monster Lead Me Home by Sara Hartman

* * *

 

_The scent of leather and cinnamon wrapped around her like a blanket, she pressed herself into it. She felt a gentle hand brush her hair from her face, a soft kiss placed upon her brow. Sleepy brown eyes looked up into green ones, getting lost in the little flecks of gold that danced in them. “Good morning,” Her groggy voice whispered from across the pillow. “Good morning, My Queen.” The beauty beside her breathed back. The green-eyed nymph drew her closer then, pulling their bodies flush. Skin touched skin and Regina felt a fire kindle in her belly. A soft moan escaped wine stained lips as the nymph took her mouth. Lips against lips, tasting of last night’s wine and their own lovemaking. “Is this what paradise is like?” Regina shuddered against the other woman. She never wanted to leave this bed, she never wanted to leave the green-eyed woman’s embrace._

Regina opened her eyes, her hand resting on the other half of the bed. A small ache in her chest formed when she realized that half of the bed was empty. Ever since she’d woken from her coma, Regina had been having the strangest day dreams, and now they’d progressed into her actual dreams as well. She didn’t know what to make of them. All she knew for sure was that every time Emma Swan was near her, she got the strangest sense of déjà vu. Contrast to that, every time Robin Hood entered the room, the hairs on the back of her neck stood up.

 

“Mom! You’re awake.” Henry came through the doorway holding a tray in front of him. Smelling the food beneath the cover, Regina’s stomach growled. They’d been feeding her intravenously when she’d been in her coma, and she was famished. Henry pulled a rolling bed tray over to her bed, and set up her breakfast before her. “Grandpa and I got back from getting you your things last night, but you were…” Henry looked away bashful, “You were sleeping. We didn’t want to disturb you.” Henry sat tentatively at the foot of her bed, he chatted continuously, letting her know all about what had happened while she’d been ‘sleeping’. He told her how he’d missed several days of school, but was going to work extra hard to make up for it.

 

Regina smiled softly at her son, “Henry, no one will fault you for falling behind on your school work.” Normally, she’d be the first to chastise him about missing school or not doing his homework. She couldn’t in this instance though, she couldn’t even imagine the turmoil her son had felt when he’d thought she might die. Even with all his optimism, he was still just a boy, afraid to lose his mother.

 

“Everyone is asking about you, asking about your recovery. It’s truly amazing. I’m glad you and Ma are getting along. I was little worried about her having met you in the Enchanted Forest, that she might have changed her opinion of you. But you two looked like you were on good enough terms last night…” Henry was rambling, and in his rambling, he had let slip a huge ‘oops.’

 

“Emma…met me? In the Enchanted Forest?” Regina paused in her eating, fork halfway to her mouth, “You mean…she met…the Evil Queen?” Regina’s blood went cold. The food on her plate suddenly incredibly unappetizing.

 

“Oh, shit.” Henry cursed realizing his mistake.

 

“Henry Daniel Mills, I will not have that kind of language.” Regina Mills snapped at her son.

 

“Oh no,” He hadn’t even seemed to notice Regina’s ire. “Ma is going to kill me. This is bad.”

 

“No one is killing anyone,” Regina softened her tone. “However, you will refrain from using that kind of language, young man. Your other mother is rubbing off on you…” Regina was chiding him, and he knew that if it wasn’t for her confined to a hospital bed he would be in major trouble.

 

“So, she met the, Evil Queen?” Regina pressed again, pushing her breakfast away. She had lost her appetite entirely.

 

“I don’t know anything.” Henry responded, deciding that his best option was to deny, deny, deny.

 

“Henry…” Regina started, but not before they were interrupted by the entering of Doctor Whale.

 

“Ah, Madame Mayor, good morning. I trust you slept well?” He busied himself about the room, checking monitors. A nurse followed him in, lifting the blankets on the bed and pinching Regina’s toes and massaging her legs. “I think we’d like you to try and get up today. You will of course, be supervised at all times, but we’d like to try getting you a little mobile. We need to get the blood flowing in your legs again, you’ve been laid up for quite some time and your body needs to get used to walking again.” The nurse came around the bed and moved Regina’s IV bag to a pole on wheels. Henry jumped off the bed to let them bustle around his mother.

A nurse helped Regina from the bed, helping steady her as her legs were almost too shaky to function. Regina grit her teeth, she was a Queen. She was much too refined to be bucking like a newborn foal. The nurse helped Regina to a walker, which she then helped Regina guide to the bathroom that adjoined the hospital room. Regina was not thrilled about the assistance she needed, but she bid no protest when the nurse switched on the water for the shower. Steam filled the bathroom, and Regina let the water fall over her naked body. It felt luxurious to finally get a shower. She washed away everything, she closed her eyes, enveloped by the heat of the water.

 

_Pale skin touched against olive once more, and those gentle hands were back. This time they had a warm wet rag, and they were touching her. The rag brushed her abdomen, moving lower until it grazed her thigh. The angel above her touched it to Regina reverently, cleaning away the hours of their love making. It was soothing and erotic all at once. Regina reached up a hand to caress the cheek of the woman poised over her._

Regina was shaken from her revere when the water was shut off and the nurse wrapped her in a towel. Regina grumbled in frustration, why could she never see the woman’s face? She could make up bits and pieces, but she could never seem to draw up the woman’s discerning features. The nurse was helping towel Regina off, but as Regina’s legs grew a little less shaky, she waved the woman off.

 

She had never been happier to see her own clothes. She eyed her clothes, contemplating. After a moment she opted for a pair of slacks so soft they were almost pajamas in their own right. Henry had brought her actual pajamas, but she didn’t want to spend her entire day in her pjs. Something more appropriate, but comfortable for the day, would make her feel more _alive_. She paired the slacks with an equally comfortable silk blouse. As she slid into her own clothes, she felt wrapped in a luxury her skin hadn’t felt in a while. It was amazing and she let herself get lost in it for a moment. The nurse wouldn’t leave the bathroom, just in case she started to fall. But Regina tuned her out and imagined she wasn’t there. She brushed her teeth, beyond grateful for some ounce of normalcy. She couldn’t do much for her hair, and opted to just toweling it as best she could before combing through it. Looking in the mirror, she saw the remnants of her weeks in bed, her cheeks were a little thinner, and her eyes a little sallow. But she was alive, and she was awake. She would forever be thankful for that.  _Thanks to…_ She couldn’t think up his name, it felt weird in her head. Something about it felt wrong.

“Will the Sherriff be coming to see you today?” The nurse finally interjected Regina’s thoughts.

 

“I’m sure the _former_ Sheriff has more important things to do…” Regina replied limply, gathering up her things, and slowly making her way out of the bathroom. The nurse followed her back into the hospital room and helped Regina set her things aside.

 

“I just figured she’d be back, she seemed really torn up when she came storming in at 1 am the morning you woke up.” The nurse wasn’t looking at Regina, she was making herself busy changing the sheets on the bed. Henry sat in the loveseat by the window pretending not to listen.

 

“Emma was here that morning?” Regina asked in disbelief. She looked at Henry, hoping he’d give something away. He looked away, continuing to look oblivious. He has been sound asleep at home when Emma had gone to the hospital. But he’d heard his grandparents whispering just this morning. “Yes, ma’am, she came rushing through the doors at 1 AM, I shouldn’t have let her, visiting hours and all…” The nurse didn’t notice Regina’s confusion, she didn’t notice anything, as she continued what she was doing. “She didn’t leave for quite some time. Actually, I don’t think she left until after you’d made your miraculous recovery.” The nurse finally looked up at Regina, meeting Regina’s incredulous eyes.

 

“If Emma was here all night…then…” Regina was lost for words. She was mulling over this new information in her head, the wheels turning so fast she felt dizzy. Robin had claimed he had been at Regina’s bedside all night, but Regina couldn’t imagine Emma and Robin sitting at her bedside together for hours. Something about that picture just didn’t seem believable. Emma had seemed torn up? Regina felt like she was missing important pieces, and it only served to frustrate her more. She’d seen Emma after waking up, their eyes had locked through the hospital room’s window. Regina had felt something, for that moment, that she couldn’t explain. Everything felt off kilter. She couldn’t seem to shake one feeling though; s _omeone isn’t being honest with me…_

 

* * *

 

 

Emma bounded down the loft stairs, finally feeling better. She didn’t know how long she’d slept last night. She hadn’t expected to sleep at all, but laying on her side in that intimate bed with Regina had been incredibly relaxing. Emma wasn’t sure what she should make of that, Regina wanting Emma to stay. Emma had woken several hours after dozing off to find Regina sound asleep beside her. Emma had laid there an hour or more and just traced the features of Regina’s face. “I thought I had lost you forever.” She’d whispered softly.

 

When the sun had barely started to creep up over the sleepy little town, Emma had awoken. Careful not to disturb the brunette, Emma had tip toed from the room. She’d headed back to the loft for a shower and some clean clothes. She’d washed away everything, the tears, the remnants of time traveling, and the guilt of still being unable to tell Regina the truth.

 

“Where are you headed in such a hurry? You were gone for so long last night. How did the talk with Regina go?” Mary Margaret greeted Emma at the foot of the stairs a sleeping Neal cuddled to her breast.

 

“There’s really nothing to report yet, mom.” Emma mumbled, snatching her jacket from the hook by the door and was out the door before her mother could prod any further.

 

She thought about going back to hospital, she really should check on Henry, needing to be sure the kid was allowing his mother time to rest and get better. Not only that, he was behind in school, Mary Margaret had told Emma as much. She didn’t drive towards the hospital though, at the last minute she hit the gas and passed it by. She needed to clear her head, and she figured checking up on things at the Station would be the best way to do that. She hadn’t officially taken back her Sheriff duties, since returning to Storybrooke, and she could only imagine David was swamped with it all.

 

The Station was dim, David hadn’t been in yet. Emma flipped on some lights and walked the hallway that led to her office and the cells.  She almost rounded the corner, her hand poised on the next light switch. Hushed voices reached her ears, causing her to snatch her hand back. Pressed against the wall, just out of sight, Emma listened.

 

“I don’t know how much longer I can continue this, Zelena, she seems to believe it, but something is off. I don’t think she trusts me.” A gruff voice whispered.

 

“She has to trust you, this won’t work if you’re too monkey faced to hold up your end of this arrangement.” Zelena hissed at the man on the other side of the bars. “To think, for a while there, I was starting to think you were actually falling for her.”

 

"I still don’t entirely understand why you need me…” He grumbled, Emma heard a fist slam against metal and Zelena’s angry voice followed, “You really are too much of a nit wit. It really is a pity that Miss Emma Swan didn’t get lost in the past, like she was supposed to. Now, you’re going to tuck your tail and go running back to Regina, I need her good and oblivious. Don’t make me regret wasting that lion tattoo on you. I could have chosen any of my minions. Be grateful I chose you. Things will be far more complicated with the  _Savior_  back in Storybrooke, but I can handle the blonde.” Zelena cackled most likely envisioning whatever her plan was playing out exactly like she intended.

 

Emma moved from her hiding place, being unable to hear another word. She’d never used her powers so quickly, let alone to cause harm. Emma reached out her hand, latching about Robin Hood’s throat with the grip of her magic. He lifted from the floor, complete surprise contorting his face.

 

“You’re such a waste of oxygen, I ought to kill you right here, right now.” Emma growled low in her throat, her voice something she’d never heard before. She’d never felt her blood run so hot in her life, she’d never imagined crushing someone’s esophagus so completely, she never imagined she’d want to.

 

“That’s it, Emma dear, give in to the darkness, kill him,” Zelena laughed, head thrown back, throat exposed.

 

Emma was furious, she let Robin Hood fall to the floor, choking. She grabbed a magicless Zelena from through the bars of her cell, snatching her blouse up in her fists. “You’re never getting out of here, you hear me? You psychotic bitch.”

 

Zelena really was insane, she cackled again, her mouth spread too wide, her teeth exposed. “Oh Emma, darling, you’ve just made things so much easier...” Emma didn’t see it coming, she didn’t see Robin come up from behind her and smack her other the head with the phone. The rotary phone that was incredibly outdated, the phone that had been placed on the desk near where he had crumpled. Emma stumbled, clutching her head. “Damn it, you can’t do anything right, hit her again you buffoon.” Zelena shouted at Robin.

 

Emma saw stars.

 

* * *

 

Emma rolled over, her shoulder ached and her head was pounding. “I swear if I hit my head one more fucking time….” Emma cursed clutching her skull. She likely had a concussion at this point. She sat up too quickly, more stars danced across her vision. She sat there a moment, blinking fiercely, willing the spots away. “Damn it…” Zelena’s cell was ajar, she was gone. And so was her accomplice…Robin Hood.

 

It was now or never, Emma had to inform Regina that her boyfriend was not who she thought he was. She wasted no time getting back into her vehicle to race the hospital. On the way, she tried hard to keep her vision from fading out again, she kept having to shake away some fuzziness and spots. The hospital wasn’t far, but she probably shouldn’t have been driving. “David, dad, hey.” Emma spoke to her phone over speaker, “Zelena has escaped. Robin Hood is helping her. Whatever you do, don’t trust him. I’m headed to the hospital now. I think Regina is their target.”

 

For the umpteenth time since the accident, Emma rushed into the hospital. She saw Henry at the front desk chatting with a nurse who was showing him what she did on a daily basis. Emma passed him in a hurry, but not before shouting behind her, “Shouldn’t you be catching up on school work?”

 

Henry grumbled behind her and Emma smiled. Being a mother hadn’t come naturally, but she really felt like she was getting the hang of it as time went on. She wouldn’t have it any other way, that was for sure. Henry was such a blessing in her life. She was lucky Regina was sharing him with her…legally she didn’t have to.

 

Emma made it to Regina’s door, she wasn’t sure what she had been expecting, but she hadn’t expected to see Regina standing. She was standing by the window, looking out over their little town.. Being on the first floor, there wasn’t a whole lot to see, but it was better than nothing. Emma took in the sight of her, dressed in her own clothes. A comfortable, or as comfortable as Regina Mills could get, pants suit. Her hair was a little wispier than normal, likely she hadn’t been able to do her hair. They’d finally removed her IV, and the rest of the wires they’d had monitoring her. She stood there, looking almost as if she was just a visitor herself. When she spun around to find Emma, Emma truly took in the sight of her. She looked more alive in that moment than she ever had.

 

“Emma…” The blonde’s name falling from Regina’s lips again, just like a prayer; as if there was so much more being said.

 

“Regina,” Emma’s chest heaved up and down, she didn’t realize how fast she’d been rushing, or how dizzy she felt from the lovely bump on the head Robin had given her. “Emma, dear, sit down, you look like you’re going to pass out.” Regina ushered Emma to the loveseat by the window and sat beside her.

 

“Regina,” Emma spoke again, pausing after the brunette’s name, “I need to tell you something.”

 

Regina smiled softly, meeting Emma’s eyes, “It was you.”

 

Emma’s mouth went slack, her lungs stopped functioning and her heart nearly beat from her breast. Regina continued, “It didn’t add up, none of it made sense. I’ve been piecing it together since the moment I opened my eyes.”

 

“What?” Emma’s was dumbfounded, and she kicked herself mentally.

 

“I think I knew from the very moment my eyes opened, it just took me a while to sort it out.” Regina paused reaching for Emma’s hand. She gazed at their hands, tanned skin against porcelain.

 

Regina’s thoughts muddled, her head felt fuzzy. She shook her head to clear it. “Emma, dear, will you please tell me what really happened?”

 

Her cheeks flushed, she wanted to look away in bashfulness, but found she couldn’t look away from Regina’s questioning gaze. Regina cocked her head to the side, raising a brow at Emma, “I’m surprised to have rendered you speechless, Miss Swan.”

 

“I’m just trying to figure out how to tell you without sounding like a complete idiot.” Emma grumbled rubbing her head where it ached.

 

“I doubt you will sound like an idiot, my dear.” Regina smiled again, so softly it might have been missed by someone lesser. Emma watched Regina’s lips, she remembered kissing that mouth. Regina’s tongue swept out to moisten them and Emma swallowed hard. Being this close to Regina, them both being refreshed, things being a bit more normal, it was taking sheer force of will not to take Regina’s mouth.

 

_Focus, Swan._

 

“When I came back through the portal, back to my own time. David found me on the side of the road on the way back from the barn. He drove me home to the loft, it was there that I found out you had spoken while I was gone. Just one garbled word, but Doctor Whale told them it meant there was a likelier chance you would wake up…” Emma stumbled over the words ‘wake up’. “I don’t know what possessed me, I found myself at your bedside. I don’t know how long I was there. I was just telling you a story. The next thing I knew I was across the room on the floor with a lump on my head, much like this one.” Emma touched her head gingerly. Wincing as she touched the tender spot that just couldn’t seem to catch a break.

 

Regina leaned in closer, Emma felt her breath across her face. Regina’s voice was so quiet, if they hadn’t been so close, Emma wouldn’t have heard it, “Did you kiss me, Em-ma?” She emphasized the syllables in Emma’s name.

 

“Yes,” Emma breathed.

 

Regina leaned in closer, their faces nose to nose. Emma’s eyes dropped to Regina’s mouth again, that scar taunting her. “Did you miss me, Miss Swan?”

 

“Yes,” Emma shuddered.

 

“I thought so.” Regina smirked.

 

Emma wasn’t ready, she couldn’t have prepared herself for this. Regina closed the gap, her sinful lips pressed to Emma’s. Emma leaned into it, deepening it.

 

They both gasped as the air in the room shifted. Regina opened her eyes, she hadn’t realized she’d closed them. Emma mimicked her, their hands still clasped. Regina looked at their hands again, her olive skin contrasted again cream. Regina’s eyes widened, and she looked up into green eyes as if she was seeing them clearly for the first time.

 

“It was you.” Regina exhaled.

 

“I thought we just covered this…” Emma was confused.

 

“No, idiot,” Regina was trying to speak but kept having visions of a blonde flash through her mind. The day dreams…they hadn’t been dreams, they'd been memories. “You…you were Princess Leia.”

 

Emma’s body went stiff. The Queen wasn’t supposed to remember that. Had their kiss broken the spell? How had it not broken when Emma had kissed Regina forehead? Was it due to the nature of the kiss? Their kiss just now had been far more intimate than the kiss Emma had placed on Regina’s brow. Did magic work like that?

 

What did this mean? If they had broken Regina’s memory spell, did that mean Regina returned her feelings? Emma was lost in her questions, lost in thought.

 

Regina touched Emma’s cheek, “It all makes so much sense now.” Her touch was tender, and Emma leaned her face into it. Tears sprung to Emma’s eyes, a lone one tumbling down her cheek. She never imagined she would be here in this moment with Regina, let alone have Regina remember their time together in the Enchanted Forest. There was nothing to hide anymore.

 

“When I asked you about your scars, you said you had a son…” Regina’s throat clenched and she choked on her words, “You weren’t crying because he’d died, you were crying because you didn’t know how to get home.”

 

Emma nodded, “Imagine me trying to tell the Queen about her own son, the son we share. You were dying, Regina, you weren’t supposed to make it…” Emma broke, her shoulders slouched and a sob escaped her. Regina pulled Emma to her, holding Emma’s head against her breast. “I’m  _alive_ , Emma. I’m  _alive_ , and I’m so sorry.” Regina was crying too. She cried and clutched Henry to her shortly after she woke from her coma, but to remember everything now, to fully understand everything, Emma’s heart ache hurt like a knife in her breast.

 

“Shhh, my precious Swan, I’m not going anywhere again.” Regina’s tears tumbled into Emma’s pale blonde hair as they held each other.

 

It wasn’t going to be easy, it was going to take time. But in this moment, they were both  _alive_. All their other problems could wait.


	14. Open Your Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a lot to catch up on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been ages. I know. I've done a lot of self discovery over the last year, and suffered from what I thought was a never ending writers block. Especially with this story, not matter what ideas came to mind, I couldn't seem to get there. I wrote page after page, deleting it, starting over, and again and again...until now. I give you, after a year long wait, Chapter 14. If you're a returning reader, thank you for your patience. If you're new to this story, I hope you're enjoying it. Your kind reviews have meant the world to me, even as my absence stretched on. I have so much love for all of you. XOXO - Bre
> 
> (This chapter was revised on 7/12/2017. Just fixed some grammatical errors.)

_Chapter 14_

_Open Your Eyes_

Inspired the song Open Your Eyes by School of Seven Bells

 

* * *

 

Regina sat next to Emma, hip to hip on a lightly cushioned garden bench. The nurses had permitted Regina to seek some fresh air, thinking it would do well for her. Regina took a deep breath, like it was her first real breath in forever. She felt like a newborn, gasping air for the first time. It felt crisp and it exhilarated her senses. Emma sat silently beside her, gathering her thoughts. She needed to tell Regina about Robin, how would she explain to her what happened.

 

The silence wrapped around them both, Regina’s eyes roaming the small hospital garden, taking in all the life around her. To think how lucky she was, to be seeing it, to be witnessing the world and everything in it again. She could feel it in her chest, and the way that everyone looked at her, or whispered when they were out of ear shot…They had never expected Regina to wake up. Her brain activity after the accident…She shook her head, not wanting to think too much about it. She was just happy to be out, in the fresh air, sitting next to the woman she shared her son with.

 

Emma was fidgeting, rubbing her sweaty palms on her knees, her tight blue jeans rough against her skin. An elegent hand reached over slowly, stopping Emma’s movements. Those long regal fingers clasping Emma’s hand, bringing fingers between fingers, intertwining their digits. “He lied to me…” Regina was the one to break the silence, as she rubbed her thumb on Emma’s.

 

“What?” Emma was drawn out of her own fretful thoughts.

 

“Robin…he lied to me…” Regina turned her eyes from the clouds she’d been watching over head, to meet the frantic eyes of the blonde beside her. “He told me it was him, that woke me. He was ready to let me believe that. And it has me confused…why would he do that?” Regina’s brows furrowed, and her eyes pooled unbidden. Regina grunted, swiping at her eyes with her other hand. “I just don’t understand why he would do that, I thought he loved me.”

 

Emma opened her mouth to respond, but she found her throat caught. She had been preparing herself to tell Regina, but she hadn’t imagined the conversation would start like this. She needed to tell her, she needed the words to exit her mouth. She couldn’t for the life of her understand why she was struggling to tell Regina. But then it dawned on her, she didn’t want to be the one to break this woman’s heart, no matter the subject. Her chest felt tight, and she tried to look away from Regina’s searching eyes.

 

Emma stood suddenly, breaking away from Regina’s clasped hand, shifting across the little garden path, to stand with her hand against the tree across from the bench. She rubbed her other hand down her face, “Fuck.” Emma whispered. There was no good way to explain this, she was going to have to break Regina’s heart, and there was no way around it. _What if she can’t forgive me for being the one to deliver this information?_  Emma banged her fist on the tree, not realizing in doing so that she made the woman on the bench flinch.

 

“I went to the station this morning, before coming here. I was going to try to catch up on paperwork or something, since I was gone for so long, after falling into that stupid time portal. Zelena’s been locked up there, ever since your, accident…” Emma paused straightening from her position, and turning to face Regina. “I happened upon a conversation Zelena was having with someone… She’s not finished with you, and she will stop at nothing until she has what she wants.” Emma paused, her face twisted as if she was in pain.

 

Regina already knew Robin Hood lied to her, but that was only the icing on the cake. Regina looked frustrated, her brows furrowed. Ever since she’d woken up, everyone was treating her with kid gloves, and it was really starting to rub her the wrong way. “Who was she talking to?” Regina demanded, her words clipped.

 

If only she’d had a drink first, some liquid courage would have been nice right about now. _No, Emma, alcohol is not the answer._ She looked away, not able to meet Regina’s eyes as she muttered, “Robin…”

 

“Go on.” Regina whispered, her features pained. Emma winced. Only a short while ago they had been holding each other, unable to believe the sparks that had passed between them. The flood of memories that had rushed in on Regina, and the intimate way they had just let it sink in. Emma would give anything to go back to that moment, to forget the whole Robin and Zelena thing ever happened.

 

Emma strode across the space between them, kneeling at Regina’s feet, “This isn’t the first time he’s lied to you. Zelena has been using him, all this time. I’m not even sure he is who he says he is.” Emma reached for Regina’s hands, but second guessed herself, instead tucking some of her blond locks behind her ear. Looking up at Regina sheepishly.

 

Regina just sat there, staring past Emma. She should have felt betrayal, she should have felt anguish, she should have even been angry. But instead she felt nothing. On one side of her heart she was in the presence of Emma, her Emma, her Leia, the woman who had made her feel something beautiful when she’d once felt nothing but rage; and on the other side she felt empty. A pit in her chest cavity. She had let someone in, let herself believe that she was worthy of love, let herself believe that maybe villains could have happy endings. Was this her penance? From the moment, she had woken up, there had been so much to take in. She felt like she couldn’t handle it, she felt like she was awash in a raging sea. She saw the edges of her vision creeping in, she felt dark claws dragging at it. There was no time to cry out, she was too lost in her own head.

 

Blackness took over.

 

“Regina!?” Emma screeched as the woman collapsed forward into Emma’s lap. “Regina!?” Emma shouted louder this time, she heard footsteps as nurses came running, Doctor Whale in their wake. A stretcher was brought out in their haste, but Emma waved them off. Too busy shouting Regina’s name. Holding the brunette’s face in her hands, her body strewn across Emma’s, she shook her, “Regina, don’t leave me again! Regina!”

 

“Miss Swan, we need to get her inside, we need to run some tests.” She heard a distant voice speaking to her, telling her they needed to move her. Emma slapped off their hands. Instead of accepting the nurses help, Emma Swan hoisted Regina Mills in her arms. Carrying Regina like a small child, Emma strode inside with the unconscious woman’s head nestled against her chest. The nurses behind Emma protested, but followed along non-the less. Emma took her back to her room, placing her gingerly into the hospital bed.

 

A nurse brushed Emma out of the way, all buzzing around Regina like a hive of bees. Emma chewed at her nails, unable to take her eyes off the brunette. This couldn’t be happening, not after she’d just gotten her back…

* * *

 

 

“Miss Swan, it appears that she has just fainted.” Doctor Whale was before her, outside of Regina’s hospital room, his words seemed garbled. Everything around her was excessively loud in her head, Emma was fighting off a panic attack. Her fingers tingled, a familiar numbness setting in. “Sheriff Swan, did you hear me?” Doctor Whale repeated. Emma jerked her head, she’d been staring at nothing. “It appears that Mayor Mills has just fainted, most likely the day was just extremely exhausting for her senses. I would encourage someone to stay with her, until she wakes up again.” Emma nodded.

 

Doctor Whale ghosted away, off to the needs of other patience in the hospital. Emma stood outside Regina’s room, for how long she wasn’t sure, staring through the curtained window. She couldn’t take her worried eyes of the petite Queen in that stark white hospital bed. Everything about the picture pained her. With a heavy sigh, she reentered the room, taking the seat next to the bed.

 

Her hair fell forward, as she placed her heavy head in her hands, “This is all my fault.” Emma whispered angrily to herself.

 

“No, it’s mine.” A soft voice sounded above the blonde. Emma’s head popped up, her hair getting tangled in her face. Emma sputtered. Regina was laying on her back, staring at the ceiling. Her chest rising and falling slowly with her breaths.

 

“Regina!” Emma leapt from her chair, sitting eagerly on the edge of the hospital bed. “You’re awake! I was so worried, don’t ever do that to me again.” Emma chided the brunette, and all the mayor did was burst out laughing.

 

Emma smacked the mayor’s arm playfully, “Don’t you laugh at me, I thought you were gone again.” Emma responded all too seriously. Which sent Regina into another fit of laughing. “Why on earth are you laughing!?” Emma’s voice rising.

 

By the time Regina’s giggles calmed down, she was clutching her abdomen. In that moment, she felt so full of life. But a look of concern was still written all over the blonde’s face. Quieting her chuckles, Regina reached out to cup the blonde’s face. “I’m sorry to have worried you, dear. What happened exactly? How did I get back into this godawful room?”

 

“You fainted, and I carried you back in here, so Doctor Whale and the nurses could look you over.”

 

Regina’s hand fell, but not before Emma had leaned into the brunette’s touch. “Thank you, Emma, for being here with me.” Regina spoke softly, as she took the blonde’s hand. “I’ve got an awful lot in my head to sort through, and I think I just lost myself for a moment—I let it overwhelm me.” Regina paused, “Wait, did you say you carried me back in here?”

 

A red flush crept across Emma’s face as she met Regina’s eyes, although she couldn’t squeeze out an answer to that question. “Why, Miss Swan, what strong arms you have,” Regina mocked with a smile playing on her lips. “Oh, shut it, Madame Mayor.” Emma hissed playfully.

 

Regina’s smile faded, putting playfulness aside, her expression turned serious. “Emma, what exactly did you overhear Zelena and Robin talking about?”

 

Emma scooted farther onto the bed, settling in. Emma told Regina everything, word for word. Regina didn’t interject, she just listened intently. She was a picture of composure the entire time.

 

When Emma finished, she eyed the woman skeptically, as if she expected her to pass out again at any moment. Regina stared at the wall just past Emma, unmoving. Silence filled the room as Regina mulled over in her head what the information Emma had given her meant. Emma waited, worrying her bottom lip the entire time.

 

Emma finally spoke, breaking the silence, “Regina, are you okay?”

 

Regina blinked, her eyes catching Emma’s. “It was supposed to be fate.” Regina sighed heavily, her shoulders slumping slightly. Emma hated to see her like this, it was so out of character for her Queen. “The worst part is, I’m not surprised.”

 

Emma touched Regina’s arm, eager to comfort her, but not entirely sure how. She wasn’t sure where her and Regina stood. Even with everything that transpired this morning, they hadn’t really talked about it, about what it meant. And she knew now wasn’t the time. Regina needed to sort through this Robin Hood business, before she could even begin to decipher everything else.

 

* * *

 

Regina was exhausted, it had been such a highly stimulating day, and as much as she hated to close her eyes again, she knew her body needed sleep. With the comforting presence of her Sheriff, she drifted off to sleep. Emma sat across the room, staring absently out the window. Not daring to leave Regina alone, not even for a second. She had no idea what Zelena and Robin had planned, but she knew Regina wasn’t safe from them. The sleeping form of the brunette caught Emma’s gaze, and her breath hitched. Seeing her lax like that, set Emma’s heart to pounding. Her fear that the woman would slip back into her coma at any moment, terrified Emma. She wasn’t sure how long it would take her to let that fear go. She assumed it would remain, so long as Regina remained in the hospital.

 

Nurses came in everything few hours, to check on Regina, and Regina remained asleep. Emma could only imagine how taxing her day had been, mentally.

 

“Sheriff Swan, I thought you might appreciate a blanket and pillow?” A nurse extended the items in a neat pile. It had long since turned night outside, and Emma’s entire body felt heavy. Her head pounded in response as she graciously accepted the items from the nurse, not bothering to correct her on the Sheriff bit.

 

Shucking her leather jacket and her boots, Emma situated herself in the chair beside Regina’s bed. Covering herself with the scratchy hospital blanket, Emma found herself drifting to sleep. Emma was a light sleeper; you had to be, growing up in the foster system—sleeping too deeply made you fair game for the other kids to mess with. She could still remember quite well, a time when she had slept deeper than usual, and woke up to half her hair missing. An unsupervised toddler with some craft scissors—Emma had sported a short bob for the next year because of it. Emma shook those thoughts away, and succumbed to the sleep that beckoned her.

 

* * *

 

Blinding beams of sunlight streamed through the hospital window, lighting up the room with an eerie glow. Emma blinked furiously, and massaged her kinked neck. Maybe sleeping in the chair like that, hadn’t been the best idea. She grumbled, yawning. Emma’s eyes fell to the hospital bed before her, half expecting Regina to be awake already. But the bed was empty.

 

Emma stood up too fast, her vision swimming. The chair behind her clattered to the floor. Emma dashed to the bathroom connected to the room, it too was empty. Her thoughts turning frantic, she threw the room door open, rushing to the nurses’ station. “Where is she?”

 

“Madame Mayor went for a walk with her boyfriend about a half hour ago, they were headed towards the garden.” The nurse sitting at the computer replied with a dubious expression.

 

“She did what!?” Emma shouted, slamming her fist on the counter. She didn’t wait for the nurse to respond to her outburst, only shouting over her shoulder, “Call my father, tell him to get here immediately.” Emma ran, down the hall, round several corners, until she saw the double doors to the garden. A heavy weight in her gut, bile rising in her throat; her instincts told her, she was too late.

 

The garden was empty…

 

Regina was gone…


	15. Blackout

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fair warning, this chapter gets a bit graphic. I thank you so much, for following my story this far. And I hope you enjoy this update. Your reviews mean the world to me XoXo - Bre

_Chapter 15_

_Blackout_

Inspired by the song Blackout by Freya Ridings

* * *

Emma was beside herself. How could she have let this happen? She stood in the middle of the empty hospital garden, frantically trying to figure out what her next move would be. She needed to find Regina, and she needed to find her fast. A half hour ago, her and Robin had gone on their 'walk', which meant that they had a half hour head start.

She heard heavy foot falls behind her as her father came rushing up. "Emma, what's happened?"

"She's gone, David. They took her…" Emma's voice was cold, her voice low and lacking any life. Her words were venomous. Her tone sent a shiver down David's spine. Catching his daughter's eyes, he saw a fire there, that he'd only ever seen once before…when Henry was dying from Regina's cursed apple turnover.

"Where could they have taken her? They couldn't have gone far. Zelena is probably still determined to make that time portal work for her. She'll be after Regina's heart…" David spoke quickly, knowing his daughter was of no mind for stalling.

Emma wracked her brain, "Fuck… I don't know…" Emma cursed into the wind.

"What about Zelena farm house? We can start there…" David suggested.

Emma could only nod. On their way, out of the hospital, she only stopped long enough to once again don her boots and leather jacket from the room. Emma ground her teeth, Zelena wasn't going to make it out alive on this one. Emma felt a darkness gripping towards her heart, as her thoughts turned dark. She'd kill them all, if they laid a finger on Regina.

There was no time for Emma to dwell on the darkness enveloping her thoughts. The more she thought about the danger Regina was in, the darker they got. It was like being awash in stormy tide. She felt the push and pull, but instead of resisting, she let it wrap her up. There's always a balance to light and dark, and with Regina's redemption, the balance was tipping…

They road across town in the police cruiser, Emma found herself shaking with impatience. David, in the driver's seat, drove at breakneck speed, lights flashing. The car was silent as Emma frantically tried to stay calm, stay focused. They had to find her. What if she had another fainting spell, and no one caught her on the way down? What would happen if Regina hit her head again? Doctor Whale hadn't even discussed the possibility of relapse, should she incur a head injury again. Emma chewed her nails to stubs, her fingers protesting in pain. David glanced over at Emma periodically as he drove, he could feel the fear radiating off Emma like a heat wave. He hated to think what would happen, should they be too late…

As the cruiser darted down the small town's roads, finally breaking free of the suburbs and headed out towards the farm house Zelena had been using for a short time; Emma's cell phone rang.

"Swan, here." Emma answered, gritting her teeth. For a moment, she had considered ignoring the call, but in case it was Regina, she had to answer.

"Swan! Thank the gods you picked up, these modern contraptions are so confusing." The gruff voice of none other than Killian Jones, rang through her phone.

"I don't have time for this, Killian." Emma prepared to hang up on the sleazy pirate.

"No, wait! I-I…please don't hang up." His voice changed, dropping for a moment, to a tone she hardly recognized. "I owe you an apology, and I'd like to make it up to you." Emma opened her mouth to tell him to go fuck off, but he quickly kept going, "I know where she is. Emma, I know where Regina is."

Killian, found he had to repeat himself, as Emma was beside herself. "Why would I believe you, Killian?"

"Because, look, I get it now, I don't have a shot with you…And I'll be damned if I won't see you happy…" He stumbled over his words, he wasn't accustomed to apologizing, let alone explaining himself. "What's important right now though, is where Regina is. They've taken her to her mansion."

"Shit." Emma pulled the phone aside, "David, turn around. We're headed in the wrong direction." Emma put the phone back to her ear, "How do you know this?"

Killian cleared his throat, "Look, after we came back I was furious, I thought I'd get you back for what you did. I was drinking on the pier, when I ran into Robin and Zelena. Zelena thought she could use me. She wanted my help, to keep you out of the way." Killian paused. Emma found her anger rising, her vision going red. "Is that what you're doing now, keeping me out of the way? I knew I shouldn't believe a word that comes out of your mouth."

"No, Emma, that's not what… I didn't realize—I didn't realize you had feelings for Regina… They're at the Mayor's house, I assure you. Zelena has plans to rip out Regina's heart. She wants to take advantage of Regina being in a weakened state." Killian Jones, Captain of the Jolly Roger, a sleazy pirate, was being completely honest for the first time in his life. When he'd happened upon Zelena and Robin Hood, and Zelena had tried to get Hook to help her with her plan, he'd almost given in. He'd been so furious with Emma, he wanted to take away any chance that Emma could be with someone else. Maybe once Regina was out of the picture entirely, Emma would see that he was her best option. But he'd dashed those thoughts, a piece of him truly did care for Emma, he just didn't know how to be a gentleman very well. He was no knight in shining armor, he was quite aware of that. But the more he'd been pulled into Zelena's web, the more uncomfortable he'd become. Zelena was green with envy, and her complete lack of moral code really rubbed Hook the wrong way. He might not be a standup guy, but he did have a moral code, a pirate's code. Zelena wanted Regina dead, not because Regina had done something to Zelena to deserve it, it wasn't a revenge plot. Zelena wants Regina dead, simply out of jealousy. Zelena was out for blood, and there was no sane reason behind it. Even Hook could see that Zelena was, how had Emma put it once?  _'Bat-shit crazy.'_

"If you're lying to me, Hook, I can assure you, I'll string your balls up to the mast of the next ship in our harbor." Emma grit her teeth, her warning hissed through the phone. On the other end, Hook shuddered, "Vivid picture there, Swan. Now quit yapping and go save your Queen."

The call ended, and Emma looked at David across the car, her expression confused. "I'll explain later but, per Hook, they've got Regina at her house." David didn't say a word, just nodded in response. He flipped the car around so fast, Emma found herself clutching the door handle for dear life. His haste was warranted though, as they raced back towards town.

There was no small talk, just white knuckles, clenched jaws, and the small suburban houses of Storybrooke flying by. In only minutes, David screeched to a half in front of the Mayor's mansion. 108 Mifflin Street. Emma was out of the car and bounding up the walkway before David even had the car in park.

The house was dark, the front door locked. Not a single sound from inside could be heard. Emma growled, and took off around the side of the house. She would find a way in, even if she had to break a window. Regina would have to forgive her for breaking and entering, later.

* * *

 

Voices hissed in the distance, just garbled nonsense. Regina winced, her head pounding. She didn't dare open her eyes, not wanting them to know she was awake yet. Her cheek pressed harshly against a wood floor, it was cold and every part of her ached.

Regina tried to take in her surroundings, without opening her eyes enough for anyone to notice. She recognized the floor beneath her, she was confident they were in her house. The place smelled dusty and the air was heavy with stale air. Regina's house was large, which meant there were some rooms that didn't get used as often as others. She didn't dare shift to discern, exactly which room they were in. Instead she inhaled the musty air, finding her senses overwhelmed by realization. How long had her house been empty? Before Henry and Emma had returned from New York, even with Regina in it, it had felt too large—too empty. She'd been so distraught during that time, knowing her son was living off in New York with no memories of her. She'd been overwhelmed by her house; haunted by flashes of a tiny Henry. Memories of him stumbling up the stairs, losing his shoes on the way up… His first stumble from the sofa in her sitting room… His grumbling over his school work in the dining room… The dust and stale air was a haunting reflection of all of it.

Her Henry, sweet, optimistic, Henry. Her darling son, the Truest Believer, who had believed so passionately that they would find a way back to each other. Who had never stopped believing that she would wake up. Just like he had never stopped believing that she could be  _good._

The voices in the distance were heated now, and she could almost make out what they were saying. She only hoped they continued to bicker. The longer they stalled, the better chance someone would come find her. For Emma, to find her… Regina cringed as she felt how stiff her body was, how long had she been lying unconscious on this floor? She hated to think how weak she was. Regina Mills, the Evil Queen, look how far she had fallen. Doctor Whale had told her, her rehabilitation might be slow, and not to get frustrated with herself. But how could she not, when her weakened state had her in the predicament she was in now?

When Robin had showed up at the hospital, unaware that Regina knew about his conversation with Zelena, he'd been obnoxiously sweet. He didn't know what had happened between her and Emma, and she'd let him believe she was still under his thrall. She'd thought they could talk, and maybe she'd give him the chance to be honest with her. She'd left Emma sleeping in the chair beside her bed, the blonde had looked so peaceful. Her and Robin had gone for a walk, as if everything was normal. The nurse at the nurses' station had greeted them both cheerily; permitting them to enjoy some fresh air in the hospital garden. Regina had smiled her best smile, and took Robin's arm, letting him guide her down the hallway towards the garden.

As they entered the garden, and Regina's eyes were assaulted by the brightness of the rising son, she'd been captivated. The beauty of the plants in the morning glow were so mesmerizing. She didn't see Zelena appear behind her. She didn't notice Robin gripping her arm a little too tightly. By the time, she noticed Zelena, and noticed the dust being blown from Robin's palm, into her face….it was too late. Her vision had begun to swim, and for the umpteenth time, Regina had lost consciousness. The trio was gone in a cloud of green smoke, long before anyone could have spotted them. Long before someone would notice Regina's absence. It wasn't until a half hour later that a certain blonde came running out of the garden doors.

Regina's body screamed now, begging her to move, begging for circulation in her right arm—that lay uncomfortably beneath her.

"What are we waiting for, Zelena?" Robin's voice whined close by.

"So much like a man, to be too impatient to enjoy a good thing." Zelena's chuckled. "You can quit pretending to be asleep, now, Regina."

Regina felt a heel in her side, as her half-sister cackled above her. "You think I'm that simple, that I can't tell you're awake?" Zelena pressed her heel harder into Regina's side, causing Regina to roll over. "Get her up."

Robin, like a good little flying monkey, rushed to do Zelena's bidding. Hauling Regina up to a sitting position with his rough hands. Regina found herself staring daggers at her half-sister, a sneer on her lips. "Couldn't get your own boyfriend, Zelena, so you had to take mine?" Regina's voice mocked Zelena.

It didn't have the necessary effect though, Zelena's high pitched laugh sounded once again. She really seemed to take the 'wicked witch' label seriously. "Oh, darling sister, I didn't need to take yours. He was already mine." Zelena's thin lips smirked, before pulling Robin to her, and crashing her lips against his. Regina waited for Robin to push Zelena away, or at least show some discomfort. Instead she saw him lean into the kiss. Bile rose in her throat as she watched the two of them suck face. "You see sister," Her voice mocking, "You were so desperate for true love, that you didn't even notice the warning signs."

Robin still hadn't spoken a word, but at Zelena's cue—Robin licked his thumb and rubbed at the coveted lion tattoo on his forearm. The ink smeared, leaving a large smudge down the center of the tattoo. His features twisted, until the man staring down at her was completely unfamiliar to her. "It was a simple spell really, to make you see what you wanted to see."

A sharp intake of breath, Regina's eyes were burning, as she saw the ink smear. "What have you done with the real, Robin Hood?" Regina asked, anger boiling in her belly.

"Oh, honey, you poor desperate thing. Robin of Locksley was caught in a terrible fire back in the Enchanted Forest. Only shortly after losing is beloved wife, Maid Marian, to the  _Evil Queen_. Some say, that he wasn't the same after losing his wife. Some even think he set the blaze himself." Zelena eyes danced as she strode closer to Regina. The red headed witch, with a sneer for a smile, took hold of Regina's chin, "Little did you know, Queenie, that you destroyed your chance at a happy ending, well before coming to this world."

Laughing, Zelena pulled away, soaking up Regina's reaction, "Ironically all the imbeciles in this town, were easy enough to convince that he was the  _real_  Robin Hood." Regina's face fell, her chest ached. It was one thing to think your soul mate was cheating on you, or conspiring with your wicked sister. It was a whole other thing to be told that your  _real_ soul mate had died decades ago… That every moment with the Robin in this world, hadn't been real. Every attempt she'd taken to have some measure of happiness was always thwarted. First with Daniel, then with Princess Leia, and now with Robin. But Princess Leia had actually been Emma, did that mean that her and Emma didn't stand a chance either?  _Villains don't get happy endings…_

Regina had been sure that when Robin showed up in Storybrooke, it was fate. She was getting another chance to walk through that tavern door and meet her happy ending. She'd been hurt and confused when she'd discovered he lied to her about waking her from her coma. She'd been so sure; True Loves Kiss had confirmed their destiny together. But it hadn't felt right from the moment she opened her eyes and found him above her. Her instincts had been firing in every direction. Now to find out how deep the lies truly went, hurt her deeper than anything had in a long time. He was  _supposed_  to be her soul mate…But that chance had been ruined ages ago. She'd never be finished paying penance for her days as the Evil Queen. The darkness she'd weighed against her heart, outweighed any redemption she could achieve. She would never be happy, she would never get the happy ending she'd started to believe in. All of this was her karmic price.

There was a bottomless ache in her soul. Her heart felt darker than ever, like a lump of coal in her breast. She was destined to be alone, alone and empty. There was a price to pay, and she would spend the rest of her life paying it. And losing everything that meant anything to her.

Every turn, every twist, happiness has been ripped from her fingers. Sitting on the cold wood floor of her own house; held captive by a madwoman, Regina realized none of it mattered anymore.  _I never should have come out of that coma…_

"Look at her, poor Regina…is it finally sinking in? The calamity of your pitiful life." Zelena snickered, "You never appreciated what you had, you squandered it all, you never deserved any of it. All the power you held, you were so quick to throw it away, for what!? For love! For the chance at a happy ending!" Her sister's mouth twisted, and she spit at Regina. Spittle slid down Regina's face, and with her hands bound, she could do nothing to wipe it away. "You're pathetic. To think our mother chose you, instead of me!"

"You're much too eager, dear. Mother loved a challenge. You would have been so desperate to please her, she would have gotten incredibly bored with you." Regina's voice was like black ice, sliding from her lips.

Regina felt the darkness within her, it was taunting her, the flow of it ebbing like the tide. Reaching its talons out to grasp at her, it begged to envelope her. She wished she could hurl it at her  _sister_. That word felt like acid on her tongue, she rolled it around in her mouth with complete disdain. If it wasn't for the magic cuff her sister had so conveniently snapped onto Regina's wrist, she would have roasted her sister and the baboon by now. Regina's eyes fell on the pretender, bile rose in her throat, she couldn't believe she'd been so foolish. Any allure she'd once felt towards him, was completely gone now. She half wondered if that had been part of the spell on the tattoo. Drawing her to him, making her oblivious to any signs that he wasn't who he said he was.

Zelena stood several feet away, unfolding a silk cloth. Regina tried to stretch to see what was held within, but it was useless. She couldn't see anything from her position. Her sister eyed her with amusement. "Curious, are you?" Zelena chirped excitedly. The Wicked Witch's fingers danced over the mysterious object now splayed on the table, her eyes alight. "You see, dear sister, I could just reach into your chest and rip your heart from your chest cavity. But I just think that's too quick for the likes of you. I want you to suffer. I want you to feel every agonizing second, as I slowly cut it from your chest. You'll feel the pain I felt… growing up like the discarded  _thing,_  mother made me out to be." The Wicked Witch's fingers picked it up gingerly, stroking it, as it glittered in the only source of light in the room.

The hilt was laden with emeralds, their green luster dancing with the reflection of the fire. The blade shone black, polished to a sheen so smooth it cast Zelena's reflection back at Regina. Zelena watched her sister through the reflection on the knife, the corners of her lips turning up—delighting in what she saw. Regina was powerless, wrapped in her own darkness, her own self-doubt. The magic cuff on her wrist, keeping her from being able to fight back. Her bound hands going numb from lack of circulation. In Zelena's eyes her sister was quite the pitiful sight. It filled her breast with excitement, so much so she felt she might burst. She had waited so long for this. To hell with her time spell being thwarted, she could enjoy this so much more. She would take the life and power right from Regina's chest, and watch as the light in her sister's eyes went dull. All while filling herself with everything she ever wanted.  _I can have it all, finally, after all this time…_

* * *

 

The entire house was sealed up tight. It was as if, no one had been home since Regina's accident. Henry had to have been by recently, to pick up Regina's things; but you wouldn't have guessed it with how quiet and untouched the house seemed. Emma grunted in frustration. From behind her, Emma heard David make his way over. He was looking quite disgruntled as well, seeing as he'd follow Emma over the hedges that barred them from the back yard. They had tried all the doors and windows, everything was locked up tight. "You sure they're here, Emma? You think, Hook, was telling the truth?"

"We're not at liberty to assume he's lying. He says she's here, then she has to be here." Emma responded tight lipped, as she took her red jacket off and wrapped it around her fist. Before David could protest, Emma slammed her fist into the glass pane of the back door. Glass shattered. Emma reached her hand in through the opening, flipping the lock.

The two of them slipped into the Mayor's house, to find everything still as a corpse. They listened intently, hoping to catch an inkling of noise. There was nothing. "Split up, it's a big house…" David nodded, tossing his daughter a flashlight before lifting his own flashlight, hand on his gun, and heading off in the opposite direction. Emma hadn't brought a gun, but she was confident she didn't need one.

* * *

 

A floorboard above them creaked. Zelena and the pretender froze. "Someone's here…" Zelena hissed in panic. "Go deal with it," She barked. He took off without hesitation, her eager lap dog. Regina glared at his back, completely beside herself, that she had thought herself capable of loving him in any way. The thought of their deception, made her sick.

They had resituated Regina, she was now bound tightly to a chair in the room. The chair sat before the fire, the heat of it causing her brow to break out in a sweat. She licked her lips, parched from the heat. Zelena sat on the edge of the table a few feet away, taking her time polishing the dagger that would carve out Regina's heart.

A thump from somewhere else in the house caused Zelena to huff, "I'm running out of time." The knife was now at Regina's throat. Regina swallowed thickly, trying to will the knife away. Zelena wanted to toy with her sister, wanted the process to be agonizingly slow. She wanted Regina to have to watch in horror as she cut away at her chest, before cutting her blackened heart from its chamber. The blade snagged on Regina's blouse, as Zelena grabbed a fistful of it, and slid the blade through it. Exposing Regina's décolletage. The tip of the dagger danced across her skin, just the slightest pressure, and she'd be cut wide. Regina hissed as she felt the edge of the blade cut into her skin. She bit the inside of her cheek—hard. She willed herself to stay still. Her sick sister wanted her reaction, wanted her to be pained. Zelena was hungry for a show, she wanted to revel in the theatrics. But Regina was not new to pain, she was not new to games like this. So, she bit her tongue, and kept her face expressionless.

A bead of crimson ran down Regina's chest, getting lost in the fabric of her black bra. "You know, when I was a little girl, as my adopted father beat me senseless for having magic, I dreamed of the day I could repay our mother. Repay our mother for giving me up. All I ever wanted, was to show her that she made a mistake. But you took that opportunity from me, now didn't you, Regina…" Zelena's voice was just above a whisper, her hot breath seared across Regina's face. Zelena was poised over her, knife still at her sister's exposed chest.

The blade cut deeper, the beads of blood, turning to a trickle that ran between Regina's breasts. She was bound so tightly to her chair that she couldn't even feel her fingers any more. But still, she sat motionless, no expression reaching her eyes. She stared past her sister, into the flames. Willing them to consume her.

Regina dared not look down, she dared not break her gaze from the flames. She had ripped out many hearts in her day, but she'd never laid open someone's chest, to see the heart beating there, beneath the cage of ribs. She felt her sister's blade cut the skin away from the bone, felt her cavity exposed to the air of the room. Regina tasted blood as she bit her tongue harder. Her fingers twitched, but she still refused to react.

"Tough as nails, this one!" Zelena howled with laughter. A bloody hand reached up to clutch Regina's chip. "Won't you admire my handy work, sister?"

Regina jerked her head from her sister's grasp, sinking her teeth into the flesh of her sister's hand. Zelena squalled, stumbling backwards, clutching her injured hand. Regina spit at her sister, the blood from her mouth, splattering the floor at their feet.

Regina's chest felt hot, like it was the fire, rather than the logs in the hearth. Zelena held the dagger in her good had, hell-fire in her green eyes. "You bitch!" Her sister growled, coming at Regina with the dagger yet again. She was ready though, in Zelena's haste to begin, she had never tied Regina's legs to the chair. When her sister was just in reach, Regina raised both of her legs, catching her sister in the gut—she kicked with everything she had in her. Zelena stumbled, gasping for air, tripping backwards until she fell—right into the fireplace. Her clothes immediately caught fire, the scent of burning flesh quickly permeating the air. Zelena screamed as the flames enveloped her.

"You're always underestimating me,  _sister…"_ Regina whispered, as she watched her sister overwhelmed by flames.

* * *

 

Emma and Robin Hood wrestled, he kept rolling to throw himself on top of her, his hands on her throat. She gasped for air, but he wouldn't get the best of her. She snatched a bookend from a shelf just within reach, smashing it into the side of his head with a loud crack. He rolled to the side, has eyes half closed and glazed over. Two fingers to his throat, she checked his pulse. He was lucky he still had one.

David entered the room at a jog, his gun at the ready. "He's alive, get him cuffed before he comes too. They've got Regina in the basement." A blood curdling scream echoed up the stairs. Emma blanched, and took off running.

David was already cuffing Robin Hood, as Emma took off towards the basement door. She reached the landing quickly, having jumped down most of those stairs in her haste. The large great room was mostly dark, except for the light of the fire beneath the mantle. As her feet touched the landing she, prepared herself for a fight, and for what she might find…

The last thing she expected to find though, was Zelena's screaming body, flailing in the fire. All whilst a bloody Regina sat in a chair, facing the fire, only a few feet away. Regina's eyes were hard, as she stared at the scene before her. Watching the clothes burn away from her sister's skin. Zelena's screams echoing in the room, until they suddenly stopped. The flailing body in the fire went still.

The scent of burnt flesh was noxious, but Regina sat unmoving, continuing to stare at her sister's silent body in the fire. The look on Regina's face was so familiar to Emma, it sent a shiver down her spine.

Emma eased her way to Regina, taking in all the blood. Her chest was seeping crimson life from the wound over her heart. Emma could see some of Regina's rib bones peeking out from the flesh that had been cut away, Emma swallowed hard. Easing the bile down. She looked around frantically, finding the silk cloth the dagger had been wrapped in, she pressed it firmly to Regina's chest.

The contact finally made Regina blink. She looked up stunned, to find soft green eyes looking up her. They weren't the harsh color like her sister's, they were more like the color of spring moss. They were sensitive, familiar, and she finally took a big breath. Regina choked, coming out of her daze. Emma's hand on her breast, holding the silk cloth to the open wound. "You're okay, I've got you, you're okay…Regina, you're going to be okay." Emma's voice washed over her, like the first rain after a long drought. Regina finally let her shoulders slump, let herself feel the pain from her wound, from biting the inside of her mouth so hard.

"You found me," Regina smiled, wincing with pain.

"Did you doubt me?"

"Well, the psycho bitch, gave me pause."

Emma laughed. Regina laughed too, before it turned to a grunt. The burning agony that was her chest laying open, could no longer be ignored. David was standing over them, gun poised on the burnt figure in the heart. Ambulance sirens sounded outside. Regina finally relaxed, her sister was dead, and she would be okay…


End file.
